ABSTRACT
This chapter examines Indonesia’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Although President Joko Widodo has been known for his pragmatic populist leadership, his responses to the pandemic have been slow, inadequate, and inconsistent. Joko Widodo ignored early warning signs of the pandemic, and even after Indonesians were evidently alarmed by the pandemic, he still prioritized economic concerns over public health. I argue that Indonesia’s responses to the pandemic have been shaped by both low state capacity and Jokowi’s power-sharing style as a populist. Jokowi has enjoyed a popular mandate, but his connection with entrenched elites is weak. In order to make up for his lack of connection in politics, Jokowi has formed an all-inclusive grand coalition with various political parties as well as his close circle of business elites in the cabinet. Such an indiscriminate power-sharing made Jokowi’s government more accountable to his coalition elites than to the people. Moreover, it has fueled Indonesia’s democratic recession during the pandemic crisis.
