A presidential election in Indonesia, the world’s third-largest democracy, is highlighting choices to be made as the country seeks to profit from its rich reserves of nickel and other resources vital to the global transition away from fossil fuels.

But bread and butter issues including jobs and inflation are also key factors for many voters in the February 14 poll.

President Joko Widodo capitalised on Indonesia’s abundant nickel, coal, oil and gas reserves as he led Southeast Asia’s biggest economy through a decade of rapid growth and modernisation that vastly expanded the country’s networks of roads and railways.

Increasingly, voters are demanding that the men vying to succeed him address the trade-offs between fast growth and a healthy environment in the world’s fourth most populated country. 

Indonesia has the world’s largest reserves of nickel — a critical material for electric vehicles, solar panels and other goods needed for the green energy transition.

It’s also the biggest producer of palm oil, one of the largest exporters of coal and a top producer of pulp for paper. It also exports oil and gas, rubber, tin and other resources.

In recent years, surging commodity prices have fueled fast economic growth and helped Indonesia become a middle-income country. That growth is expected to slow as the boom loses steam, according to a World Bank report. 

The downside of rapid expansion of logging, mining and other resource extraction has been razing of rainforests, pollution of coastal waters and waterways and smoggy cities.

President Widodo — who must step down after a second term due to a constitutional two-term limit — prioritised economic growth, welcoming foreign investments in manufacturing and other industries and building infrastructure such as the country’s first high-speed railway. 

He also has championed his legacy project of moving the capital from traffic-congested, polluted Jakarta, which is flooding as the city of 11 million sinks, to Nusantara, a new city under construction on the tropical island of Borneo. 

The candidates vying to take his place are Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto, the former governor of the capital Jakarta, Anies Baswedan and the governor of Central Java, Ganjar Pranowo. 

The project to move the capital has been lambasted by environmentalists and Indigenous communities that say the mammoth undertaking will degrade the environment, further shrink habitats of endangered species such as orangutans and displace Indigenous people that rely on the land for their livelihoods.

It’s also a drain on national finances. 

Another campaign issue is the food estate programs, massive plantations the government set up to fortify national food security. 

They have come under fire for causing massive deforestation and land conflicts with Indigenous peoples, and for their ineffectiveness. 

Presidential candidates Subianto and Pranowo say they are committed to the programs. Baswedan has criticised them for neglecting local community needs and failing to grow suitable crops, pointing to the failure of cassava fields at a food estate in Kalimantan.

Many voters believe Indonesia needs a greener and more inclusive approach to growth, says Bhima Yudhistira Adhinegara, executive director of the Indonesia-based Centre of Economic and Law Studies. 

In 2021, coal-rich Indonesia was the world’s ninth-largest source of carbon emissions that are causing global warming, according to a report by the International Energy Agency.

The country’s transition towards cleaner energy— which is being kick-started by a $20 billion Just Energy Transition Partnership deal — is supported by all three presidential candidates, with each outlining different strategies to wean the country off fossil fuels.

But prospects for significant changes seem uncertain since the country, instead of switching off coal-fired power plants, is building new ones to power refineries and metal smelters in industrial parks across the country.

Other voter concerns include job creation, poverty reduction and managing inflation. 

While Indonesia’s unemployment has been declining to pre-pandemic levels, the number of middle-class jobs has dropped from 14 per cent  to nine per cent of total employment. 

Underemployment is also rising and youth unemployment remains relatively high.

While the World Bank predicts Indonesia’s inflation will ease, there is some upward pressure on the cost of basic food items due to El Nino, which is disrupting food production globally. 

For many Indonesians, such bread and butter issues take priority.

“I just want to make sure I can make enough money to create a good life for my child,” said Yulia, a 26-year-old self-employed house cleaner and mother of a two-year old boy. 

“I’ll pick the candidate who can help with that.”

This post was originally published on Michael West.