Indonesia: Majority of people oppose KPK Law revision, support student protests: LSI Survey

• A recent study conducted by the Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI) has revealed high public dissatisfaction against the controversial revision of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) Law and indicated support for calls for the issuance of a government regulation in lieu of law (Perppu) to revoke the revision, a rebuttal to claims made by the government and its supporters that the revision had wide support.
• According to the survey, released on 16 Sep 19, 44.9% of respondents supported the revision while only 33.9% said they disagreed with the bill.
• The survey, based on interviews conducted between 4 Oct 19 and 5 Oct 19 with 1,010 respondents from across the country, showed that 60.7% of those who were aware of the student protests and the KPK Law revision were in support of the rallies.
• Only 5.9% were against the protests, while the remaining 31% chose to stay neutral and the remaining declined to answer.
• The support for the protests was largely driven by the fact that 70.9% of respondents who were aware of the KPK Law revision believed it would weaken the antigraft body. Only 18% of respondents believed the revised law would strengthen the KPK.
• In line with the protesters’ demand, 76.3% of residents agreed the President must issue a Perppu, while only 12.9% did not support the idea.
• Earlier on 7 Oct 19, Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Wiranto told a press briefing that the ongoing wave of demonstrations had been “taken over” by groups whose final aim was to thwart the inauguration of the President for his second term, which is to take place on 20 Oct 19.
• The LSI study also found that 43.9% of respondents did not agree with Wiranto’s claim the protests were coopted by a plot to thwart Jokowi’s inauguration, while 46.8% believed the protests were divided into two different, separate groups: the student protesters and opponents of the Jokowi.
• The findings were in line with a recent study conducted by independent local pollster KedaiKOPI that revealed that the demonstrations were staged by the country’s youth, or those aged 19 to 38 — the demographic segment that helped propel Jokowi to victory in Apr 19’s presidential election. The protests were the biggest student rallies to protest government policies since 1998.
• The KedaiKOPI survey, which saw 469 people interviewed across Indonesia on 28 Sep 19 and 29 Sep 19, found that 77% of respondents strongly supported the university student protests.
• In regard to the motivations of the protest, 55.2% of respondents agreed the new KPK Law could potentially weaken the institution and 62.7% of millennial respondents disagreed with the revision.
• The survey also measured the public’s trust in the government and authorities, showing that the public had a high level of trust in the KPK, while the police, political parties and lawmakers ranked in the bottom three. Meanwhile, only 46.5% said they were satisfied with Jokowi’s performance as president.
• However, the LSI survey showed that the public’s trust in KPK remains high at 72%, higher than the level of trust in the President (71%) and the House (40%).
• The survey, however, also found that the public’s satisfaction in the President’s performance remains high at 67%, although this marks a slight decrease from 71% in Mar 19.

External Link : https://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2019/10/07/majority-of-people-oppose-kpk-law-revision-support-student-protests-new-survey-reveals.html