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Indonesians disappointed by highly anticipated first presidential debate ahead of April election

"Indonesia earthquake death toll could reach 5,000 as officials count missing"

By Erwin Renaldi

Updated about 5 hours ago

Video: Indonesia's political leaders face off in a debate ahead of elections in April (ABC News)
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-01-18/indonesian-presidential-candidates-debate-ahead-of/10725358

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Many Indonesians have taken to social media to express their disappointment at what they say was
a lacklustre presidential debate kicking off the race to lead the island nation of 250 million people.

Key Points

* The first round of the Indonesia's presidential debate focused on law, human rights, terrorism, and corruption.

* Critics said the debate was less interesting because the candidates looked like they had memorised it

* There will be four more round debates before the election taken place in April 2019

Indonesian netizens were tweeting with anticipation on Thursday night in the lead-up to the first debate ahead of April elections, sending hashtag #DebatePilpres2019 to the top of Twitter's world trends list.

But as the debate between President Joko Widodo and Opposition Leader Prabowo Subianto kicked off, the mood seemed to change as many criticised both men for parroting speeches rather than devising punchy rebuttals.

--
Indonesia's long road to democracy



Significant progress has been made in relation to Indonesia's democratisation over the past 20 years,
but a culture of impunity around human rights abuses persists, writes Olivia Nicole Tasevski.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-06-24/indonesias-slow-road-to-democracy/9830834
--

One social media user even compared it to a high school debate.

[...]

"I will support the deradicalisation program, I will invest heavily in pesantren [Islamic schools], teachers, and our people by improving their quality of life — they won't feel despair and hate the country," he said.

After a similar answer from the opposing side, program commentators said the discussion between two candidates "wasn't dynamic", as neither side was preparing follow-up questions to attack their opponent.

-
"That's probably because they were not mastering the
terrorism issues in Indonesia," a commentator said.
-

[...]

Four more rounds of debates are scheduled in the lead-up to the April election.

The second, to be held next month, will focus on energy, food, natural resources, environment, and infrastructure.

The fourth debate, scheduled in March, will cover ideology, governance, security, and international relationships.

It remains to be seen if Indonesia's relationship with Australia will be mentioned by the candidates.

First posted about 6 hours ago

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-01-18/indonesians-presidential-debate-disappoints-public/10724726