TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Populi Center researcher Jefri Ardiansyah claims its latest survey found Jakarta Governor’s name, Anies Baswedan, had a massive influence on public perception towards Jakarta’s flood prevention programs.

The survey asked respondents about flood prevention programs that suit the capital city and compared the “normalization” program introduced under the leadership of Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama to Anies Baswedan’s “river naturalization” program.

“The results show 52 percent of respondents agree that Anies Baswedan’s naturalization is better compared to Ahok’s normalization, which was preferred by 37 respondents,” said Jefri on Wednesday, January 15.

However, the perception towards the programs dramatically changed as the respondents were presented with a control question that elaborates both river naturalization and normalization programs. Surprisingly, the reception towards normalization was distinctively better compared to Anies Baswedan’s naturalization.

“The comparison was; Ahok’s normalization received 50.7 percent compares to Anies’ naturalization that garnered 35.7 percent. The rest did not provide answers,” said Jefri.

As the Populi Center research elaborates, Ahok’s “normalization” focuses on widening rivers and with concrete structures to minimize evictions in the process. Meanwhile, Anies Baswedan’s “naturalization” focuses on widening rivers and planting trees surrounding it with a higher level of evictions in the process.

“We used this method as there were indications that the governor’s identity affects their perception, which is why we wrote Anies’ name in the questioner,” said Jefri.

Jefri indicated that any program that the Jakarta administration will be received positively as long as Anies Baswedan is mentioned in it. “This is a terrible example of public policies, that there is a matter of populism that makes current issues not effective,” he said.

However, it is important to note that Populi Center implemented an experimental method by asking 300 respondents from September to October of 2019.

ANTARA