Minister Bahlil Lahadalia Claims Businessmen Want 2024 Election Be Postponed

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Investment Minister Bahlil Lahadalia commented on the findings of a national survey on pandemic fatigue and electoral dynamics ahead of the 2024 general election conducted by Indikator Politik Indonesia.

One of the issues in the survey was about extending Jokowi's era until 2027. Bahlil said it was in line with several discussions he had with the business players.

“Some of them (entrepreneurs) think of the possibility to postpone the democratic process in the context of leadership transition. The reason is that they have been just facing the COVID-19 pandemic and are now rising slowly,” said Bahlil in a written statement on Sunday, January 9.

Bahlil said they considered it would be somewhat burdensome if the business sector must face political issues in the near future. The people, he argued, need to decide which issues to be prioritized.

“Is it containing the pandemic, recovering the economy, or choosing a new leadership through elections,” he added.

According to him, all countries in the world were facing the same two major problems, namely the COVID-19 pandemic and economic recovery after the pandemic.

He acknowledged that recovering the economy was not an easy thing, but Indonesia's economy is showing a positive trend, which was evident from the 3.5 percent growth in the third quarter of 2021.

Although the current economic condition could not appease the public, Bahlil was content that the public satisfaction with the Jokowi-Ma’ruf Amin government increased to 71 percent in the past four months, according to the survey.

“We work day and night in this cabinet. Bapak (Mister) President did not give orders then lets us [without monitoring]. He checked how far [our works have done], what the problem and the target are,” Bahlil Lahadalia said.

Read: 40.3 Percent Unaware of Simultaneous Elections In 2024, Survey Says

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