JAKARTA: Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto’s public approval rating is steady at 78 per cent a year after he took office, a survey showed on Saturday (Nov 8), despite a challenging first year in office marked by deadly student protests.

Prabowo’s approval is little changed from 80.9 per cent in the previous poll, released in January.

He took office in October 2024 after sweeping a general election, but his government has had to deal with a number of economic and social challenges, including the protests against some of his policies.

Only 20.8 per cent of respondents in the new survey expressed dissatisfaction with Prabowo, Burhanuddin Muhtadi, founder of independent polling organisation Indikator Politik Indonesia, told journalists.

“Based on our national survey ... the variable that makes the public most satisfied is eradicating corruption,” Muhtadi said, adding that Prabowo also received high marks for social assistance and his signature free-meals programme.

Prabowo’s lowest approval was for the political situation, at 31 per cent in the survey, conducted from Oct 20 to 27 and involving 1,220 respondents. The highest was for security at 56.5 per cent.

Prabowo won the presidency on a promise to stamp out corruption and increase economic opportunities by accelerating gross domestic product growth to 8 per cent from 5 per cent.

Among his most contentious policies since taking power has been formalising the expansion of the military’s role in civilian governance, which triggered the protests.

The use of soldiers by Prabowo - a former special forces commander dismissed from the military amid speculation of rights abuses and once barred from entering the United States - for tasks such as running civilian departments and manufacturing medicines, has been criticised by rights groups as a threat to democracy.

His ambitious free-meals programme that targets nutritious meals for over 80 million Indonesians, has hit some hurdles. Some 15,000 children had fallen ill as of Oct 29 after consuming food prepared under the programme.

But it has been the economy which has challenged Prabowo most persistently.

Growth slowed to 5.04 per cent in the third quarter from 5.12 per cent in the second quarter as household spending, which makes up more than half of Indonesia’s GDP, cooled slightly.

While growth remains steady, it is still below this year’s target of 5.2 per cent, underscoring the challenge of lifting growth to 8 per cent by 2029.

There have been multiple stimulus packages and interest-rate cuts this year, but investor sentiment remains lukewarm.

“This is an input for Prabowo’s government, that satisfaction has not been contributed by economic factors,” Muhtadi said.