‘Helpful’ or ‘weird’? Vice President Gibran’s new complaint desk gets Indonesians’ support, but some are sceptical

JAKARTA: Mr Gibran Rakabuming Raka’s newly launched complaint desk in Central Jakarta has garnered support from its first customers and the country’s netizens, though some have raised questions over its relevance to the recently inaugurated vice president’s role.

Local media reported that Mr Gibran himself visited the physical complaint desk at the vice presidential palace on Tuesday (Nov 12) to inspect its operations.

The “Lapor Mas Wapres” or Report to the Vice President complaint desk, aimed at addressing concerns from over 270 million Indonesian citizens, received 55 face-to-face complaints on its first day of operations on Monday, from people across various regions in Indonesia – as far as Surabaya, Makassar and Manado in North Sulawesi, according to local media.

The initiative was announced by Mr Gibran, 37, who is also the son of former president Joko Widodo, on his personal Instagram account @gibran_rakabuming on Sunday.

“From tomorrow onwards, we will accept complaints from the Indonesian public. Ladies and gentlemen, you can come directly to the vice presidential palace in Central Jakarta,” Mr Gibran wrote on the social media platform, with the post garnering over 601,000 likes and more than 35,400 comments as of Tuesday.

According to local media platform Kompas, some expressed disappointment as they did not get a queue number and had to return back the next day, while others were pleased with the hospitable service from the officials at the complaint desk.

One of them is Mr Fathoni Rahman, a motorcycle taxi driver, who submitted a complaint regarding the inaccessibility of a hospital where he is currently seeking treatment.

“Very friendly, very open and very helpful, I am very thankful,” Mr Fathoni told local media platform Kompas, commenting on the service at the desk, though he gave no elaboration on what action has been taken so far to address his complaint.

Some of the other complaints lodged at the desk include concerns about unequal social assistance schemes, difficulties in seeking justice and health problems suffered by family members, Kompas reported.