Speculation persists that Widodo will stay in office beyond October 2024, whether through extending his current term or seeking a third. Either option would require amending the constitution – a highly controversial idea.
Widodo himself has repeatedly denied any such plans, stressing that he will abide by the constitution and step aside after serving out his five-year term. He told cabinet members last week to make clear that the schedule for the February 2024 election has been set.
“Do not let speculation” go any further, he said, noting that already “rumours are circulating in the community that the government is trying to postpone the election (and that there is) speculation about the extension of the president’s office and also related to the question of three terms.”
Such comments have failed to dampen speculation fuelled by Widodo’s own supporters and ruling party members who have suggested that the president should stay in office.
While the stated rationale is to guide the economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic and the response to the Ukraine war, they may also look to protect vested interests in the current administration.
Students protesting in Jakarta this month over rising food prices also took aim at the prospect of the president extending his time in office.
Widodo, a businessman who delved into local politics before his election as president in 2014, has generally enjoyed broad support thanks to his approachable image. But a March survey by private polling organisation Saiful Mujani Research & Consulting found a drop in satisfaction with his performance.
The administration recently set out plans to pay 1 million rupiah (US$70) to 8.8 million low-income workers earning less than 3.5 million rupiah per month, to help ease the pinch from inflation. The subsidy is due out by the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in early May, when household spending tends to pick up.
Widodo has been increasingly conscious of public opinion because of its potential effect on the planned relocation of the capital from Jakarta. More than half of respondents to a private-sector poll in February opposed the step.
Widodo announced the move as a key goal for his second term shortly after the presidential election in April 2019. But it has faced major delays amid the pandemic.
Still, the president has been acting to keep the ball rolling. Legislation passed in January formally spells out the new capital’s name and location. Bambang Susantono, a former vice president at the Asian Development Bank, was named head of the new capital authority in March.
Jakarta is now home to a significant portion of the Indonesian population. It not only struggles with heavy traffic and pollution, but is also sinking into the Java Sea. Widodo aims to ease population pressure on the city and narrow regional economic gaps by moving the capital roughly 2,000km northeast to the island of Borneo.
Elsewhere in Southeast Asia, Myanmar moved its capital from Yangon to Naypyitaw, while Malaysia transferred its administrative centre out of Kuala Lumpur and into neighbouring Putrajaya. Widodo aims to move the presidential office and parliament to Nusantara by early 2024.