GoodStats and Good News From Indonesia (GNFI) recorded Indonesia's 2025 Optimism Index at 5.51—a position that's neither strong enough to be called optimistic nor fully pessimistic, reflecting public sentiment filled with caution amid economic uncertainty, political upheaval, and social challenges overshadowing the year's beginning, with the index calculated from eight dimensions of societal life ranging from economics and education to international relations.
Interestingly, the Culture & Creativity dimension emerged as the largest source of optimism with a score of 6.75, demonstrating that Indonesian society still maintains high confidence in local cultural wealth and the creative potential of younger generations, making cultural aspects an anchor of identity and collective hope especially when gaining global recognition and being increasingly preserved by new generations.
Conversely, the Politics & Governance dimension recorded the lowest score at only 3.87, reflecting consistent public disappointment toward promises of reform, transparency, and corruption eradication that haven't been tangibly realized, with the political sector becoming a fragile point in the national optimism structure rather than sparking hope.
This cautious optimism reveals a society navigating between hope and skepticism, where cultural pride serves as a buffer against political disillusionment in an era of mounting challenges.
If this political pessimism is left unchecked, it could potentially spread to other dimensions that have thus far remained positive, threatening the overall foundation of national optimism and collective progress.
