Comparing Public Support for Two Indonesian Employment Policy Reforms in a Time of COVID-19

Abstract

The pandemic-induced disruption has created a critical juncture at which the opportunity to experiment with new policy trajectories has widened. Yet, how much public support is there for such an experiment? This chapter addresses this question by studying the Activation (Prakerja) and unemployment protection (Jaminan Kehilangan Pekerjaan, JKP) policies, which served as essential policy responses during the COVID-19 crisis in Indonesia. In this study, the authors analysed 47,916 tweets containing public debates that took place up to three months after the policies' inception. Having performed a set of analyses on sentiments, emotions, and most appealing tweets, the authors argue that different forms of support for Prakerja and JKP emerged not because of the policies' breakthrough traits, but due to citizens' pragmatic-cognitive logic shaped by the urgency and severity of the COVID-19 crisis. It makes the idea of state-centred welfare responsibility (something Prakerja possesses) more desirable than contribution-based insurance, which JKP offers. Discussing the Indonesian case fills in the existing research gap as it facilitates a better understanding of the political legitimacy of welfare state policy institutionalization in developing countries during the COVID-19 catastrophe.