What Does "Neutral Civil Servant" Mean in the 2024 Election? Public Perspectives

The government prohibits civil servants (PNS) or state civil apparatus (ASN) from liking, commenting on, sharing, or following social media content related to specific presidential and vice-presidential candidate pairs.

Furthermore, PNS/ASN are also prohibited from taking photos with poses that show support for any candidate pair in the 2024 General Election.

This policy is stipulated in the Joint Decree (SKB) Number 2 of 2022 concerning Guidelines for Guidance and Supervision of the Neutrality of State Civil Apparatus Employees in the General Election and Election.

In line with this, President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) emphasized that all PNS/ASN must maintain their neutrality in the 2024 General Election. "I need to state that regional governments, provincial governments, regency/city governments, and the central government must all remain neutral," said President Jokowi, as reported on the website of the Indonesian Ministry of State Secretariat on Wednesday (1/11/2023).

So, what is public opinion regarding the neutrality of PNS/ASN in the 2024 General Election?

Based on a survey by Kurious-Katadata Insight Center (KIC), the majority or 51.10% of respondents assessed that PNS/ASN have remained neutral.

However, 28.50% of respondents felt that PNS/ASN were not neutral, and 20.40% stated they did not know.

The Kurious-KIC survey involved 1,002 respondents spread across Indonesia, with a proportion of 45.9% male and 54.1% female respondents.

64.1% of respondents were from the island of Java (excluding Jakarta), followed by respondents from DKI Jakarta (16.1%), and Sumatra (13.3%).

Meanwhile, the proportion of respondents from Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Bali-Nusa Tenggara, and Maluku-Papua ranged from 0.2-2.3%.

The majority of respondents were aged 25-34 years (41.80%), followed by the 35-44 year (26.80%) and 45-54 year (13.60%) groups.

Data collection was conducted from November 3-6, 2023, using the computer-assisted web interviewing (CAWI) method, with a margin of error of +/- 3.10% and a 95% confidence level.

(See also: 10 Provinces Prone to Violations of ASN Neutrality in the 2024 General Election)