Public Opinion on National Exam Policies in Indonesia

Abstract Every new policy by Indonesian government in National Examination (NE) implementation always obtains different respond from public. Since the implementation, NE system already experienced many changes, but in recent years this system receives serious critiques. As a result, government then abolished this system as graduation determinant in 2014. This research analyzes public opinion, in the form of positive and negative sentiment toward NE policy, and factors that drive the opinions. Data in this research obtained from online news media from 2012 to 2015. The result shows that public sentiment fluctuating from year to year and depends on three important factors, i.e. political pressure, extreme events, and media coverage.