Kanupriya Kapoor and Andrew R
By Kanupriya Kapoor and Andrew R C Marshall
Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, the governor of Jakarta, might well be the future of Indonesian democracy. Here’s why.
On a recent afternoon he visited Tambora, a densely populated area of west Jakarta, to inspect the aftermath of a slum fire. Within minutes, the narrow streets were a moshpit of jostling well-wishers. Women embraced him. Men kissed his hand. School children chanted “Long live Jokowi!”
Unattended by bodyguards, Widodo edged through the scrum wearing a spotless white shirt and the sort of unfaltering grin that makes a normal man’s face ache.
No wonder he’s smiling. He is a wildly popular leader in a country where scandal has tarnished or toppled almost every leading politician, including President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and those vying to replace him in next year’s election.
His rise has been formidable. So, too, is the task of fixing a city whose problems are holding back one of Asia’s largest and fastest-growing economies.
Widodo, 51, is a former furniture salesman who grew up in a riverside slum in Surakarta, better known as Solo, a once-declining city in Central Java where he was elected mayor in 2005. Over the next seven years he cut crime, revived the local economy and gained a reputation for clean, can-do governance that propelled him into Jakarta’s City Hall last October.
Widodo’s plans for the Indonesian capital are even more ambitious. He vows to solve its chronic flooding, alleviate its maddening traffic and re-house more than a million slum-dwellers. “My inspiration is the people,” he said. “I think we can solve our problems here.”
Jakartans think so too. Widodo is mobbed by crowds during his daily visits to low-rent communities, feted by the media and feared by underperforming city officials.
That Widodo’s simple formula — competence, transparency and the common touch — seems so revolutionary is a testament to how corrupt and remote most Indonesian politicians are. In a country where political parties are distinguished not by policies but by personalities, Widodo seems a shoo-in for president — if he decides to run. For now, he says he will concentrate on Jakarta.
His Indonesia Democratic Party-Struggle (PDI-P) may have other ideas. Its leader is former president Megawati Sukarnoputri, the daughter of Indonesian independence hero Sukarno.
“Megawati doesn’t want to stand next year,” says a senior party official, a Megawati confidant who spoke on condition of anonymity. “We don’t want to announce it yet, but . . . it’s clear that in the party, everyone has Jokowi in mind.”
While Widodo’s popularity is rare for an Indonesian politician, it is far from unique. He is only the most celebrated of a new batch of popular and pragmatic leaders who could revolutionise the way Indonesia’s young democracy is run.
GOOD, BAD AND UGLY
These leaders are products of Indonesia’s decade-old experiment with decentralisation. “It’s important for Indonesians to understand that it’s not just Jokowi,” says Marco Kusumawijaya, director of the Jakarta-based urban studies think tank Rujak. “What we’re seeing is the emergence of new types of leaders.”
Many of them hail not from the bureaucracy — the usual source — but from other professions.
Kholiq Arif, the mayor credited with revitalizing the Central Java city of Wonosobo, is a former journalist. Mayor Herman Sutrisno of Banjar, another Javanese town, is a doctor who still performs vasectomies as part of his family planning programme.
Capable regional leaders often win attention and funds from the central government, as Widodo did in Solo.
But for every mini-Widodo there are local leaders who have used decentralisation to misrule and plunder.
Syamsul Arifin is serving a six-year jail sentence for embezzling nearly Rp 10 billion ($1m) during his time as governor of North Sumatra. Banten, a province run by Indonesia’s first female governor, Ratu Atut Chosiyah, has become a byword for nepotism. Her husband, son, daughter-in-law, sister and sister-in-law all hold senior political posts.
Other local politicians have passed Islamic bylaws that oblige women to wear headscarves or be chaperoned by male relatives when going out after dark.
“SHINING WITHOUT CORRUPTION”
Riots during the 1998 downfall of the dictator Suharto razed homes and businesses in Solo and wrecked its economy.
Campaigning with the slogan “Shining Without Corruption”, Widodo became Solo’s first directly elected mayor in 2005. His signature achievement was unclogging Solo’s streets and public spaces by relocating thousands of illegal vendors to new facilities. He did this through incentives discussed at dozens of meetings with the vendors, often over lunch or dinner.
Widodo and his then-deputy Hadi Rudyanto also improved slums and access to healthcare services, and boosted tourism by promoting Solo as a centre for Javanese art and culture. They were re-elected in 2010 with 90 percent of the vote.
Widodo abandoned his second term as Solo mayor to run for Jakarta governor, easily beating the Jakarta-born incumbent, Fauzi Bowo.
CAPITAL PUNISHMENT
Jakarta, home to 10 million people, should be famous for its rich Betawi culture and thriving arts scene. Instead, it is notorious for floods, sprawling slums and soul-crushing gridlock.
Jakarta has a shabby and chaotic public transport system and no subway, which forces more people into private vehicles. Jakartans buy more than 440 cars and 1,400 motorbikes every day, says Widodo.
Then there are the slums: more than 4.7 million Jakartans live in them, he says.
Jakarta’s burgeoning population has overwhelmed city planners since Indonesia won independence in 1945. This explains why many of Widodo’s solutions involve moving people.
Widodo’s immediate goal is to transfer more than 100,000 families from slums into public housing during his first term. That’s about half a million people. His longer-term plan is even more ambitious: to re-house a total of 370,000 poor families.
“NEW STAR”
When President Yudhoyono made an impromptu visit to a fishing village in Banten province in January, the Indonesian media accused him of trying to boost his flagging popularity with a distinctive Widodo tactic.
“Jokowi is a new star,” Yudhoyono said in April. “He could be a contender for the presidency someday.” But he said Widodo needed more time as Jakarta governor to learn how to run a large organisation.
Yudhoyono’s own Democratic Party offers no credible rivals. Widodo remains more popular than any other declared presidential candidates. Aburizal Bakrie, the billionaire leader of the Golkar party, lacks his rags-to-riches story and common touch. Prabowo Subianto, the Gerindra party candidate, is sullied by human rights abuses committed by Indonesia’s special forces, which he once commanded.
Even so, the PDI-P will announce Widodo’s candidacy as late as possible, says the senior party official. “If we announce it now, everyone will make him a target and gun him down between now and next year.”
REUTERS
By Kanupriya Kapoor and Andrew R C Marshall
Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, the governor of Jakarta, might well be the future of Indonesian democracy. Here’s why.
On a recent afternoon he visited Tambora, a densely populated area of west Jakarta, to inspect the aftermath of a slum fire. Within minutes, the narrow streets were a moshpit of jostling well-wishers. Women embraced him. Men kissed his hand. School children chanted “Long live Jokowi!”
Unattended by bodyguards, Widodo edged through the scrum wearing a spotless white shirt and the sort of unfaltering grin that makes a normal man’s face ache.
No wonder he’s smiling. He is a wildly popular leader in a country where scandal has tarnished or toppled almost every leading politician, including President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and those vying to replace him in next year’s election.
His rise has been formidable. So, too, is the task of fixing a city whose problems are holding back one of Asia’s largest and fastest-growing economies.
Widodo, 51, is a former furniture salesman who grew up in a riverside slum in Surakarta, better known as Solo, a once-declining city in Central Java where he was elected mayor in 2005. Over the next seven years he cut crime, revived the local economy and gained a reputation for clean, can-do governance that propelled him into Jakarta’s City Hall last October.
Widodo’s plans for the Indonesian capital are even more ambitious. He vows to solve its chronic flooding, alleviate its maddening traffic and re-house more than a million slum-dwellers. “My inspiration is the people,” he said. “I think we can solve our problems here.”
Jakartans think so too. Widodo is mobbed by crowds during his daily visits to low-rent communities, feted by the media and feared by underperforming city officials.
That Widodo’s simple formula — competence, transparency and the common touch — seems so revolutionary is a testament to how corrupt and remote most Indonesian politicians are. In a country where political parties are distinguished not by policies but by personalities, Widodo seems a shoo-in for president — if he decides to run. For now, he says he will concentrate on Jakarta.
His Indonesia Democratic Party-Struggle (PDI-P) may have other ideas. Its leader is former president Megawati Sukarnoputri, the daughter of Indonesian independence hero Sukarno.
“Megawati doesn’t want to stand next year,” says a senior party official, a Megawati confidant who spoke on condition of anonymity. “We don’t want to announce it yet, but . . . it’s clear that in the party, everyone has Jokowi in mind.”
While Widodo’s popularity is rare for an Indonesian politician, it is far from unique. He is only the most celebrated of a new batch of popular and pragmatic leaders who could revolutionise the way Indonesia’s young democracy is run.
GOOD, BAD AND UGLY
These leaders are products of Indonesia’s decade-old experiment with decentralisation. “It’s important for Indonesians to understand that it’s not just Jokowi,” says Marco Kusumawijaya, director of the Jakarta-based urban studies think tank Rujak. “What we’re seeing is the emergence of new types of leaders.”
Many of them hail not from the bureaucracy — the usual source — but from other professions.
Kholiq Arif, the mayor credited with revitalizing the Central Java city of Wonosobo, is a former journalist. Mayor Herman Sutrisno of Banjar, another Javanese town, is a doctor who still performs vasectomies as part of his family planning programme.
Capable regional leaders often win attention and funds from the central government, as Widodo did in Solo.
But for every mini-Widodo there are local leaders who have used decentralisation to misrule and plunder.
Syamsul Arifin is serving a six-year jail sentence for embezzling nearly Rp 10 billion ($1m) during his time as governor of North Sumatra. Banten, a province run by Indonesia’s first female governor, Ratu Atut Chosiyah, has become a byword for nepotism. Her husband, son, daughter-in-law, sister and sister-in-law all hold senior political posts.
Other local politicians have passed Islamic bylaws that oblige women to wear headscarves or be chaperoned by male relatives when going out after dark.
“SHINING WITHOUT CORRUPTION”
Riots during the 1998 downfall of the dictator Suharto razed homes and businesses in Solo and wrecked its economy.
Campaigning with the slogan “Shining Without Corruption”, Widodo became Solo’s first directly elected mayor in 2005. His signature achievement was unclogging Solo’s streets and public spaces by relocating thousands of illegal vendors to new facilities. He did this through incentives discussed at dozens of meetings with the vendors, often over lunch or dinner.
Widodo and his then-deputy Hadi Rudyanto also improved slums and access to healthcare services, and boosted tourism by promoting Solo as a centre for Javanese art and culture. They were re-elected in 2010 with 90 percent of the vote.
Widodo abandoned his second term as Solo mayor to run for Jakarta governor, easily beating the Jakarta-born incumbent, Fauzi Bowo.
CAPITAL PUNISHMENT
Jakarta, home to 10 million people, should be famous for its rich Betawi culture and thriving arts scene. Instead, it is notorious for floods, sprawling slums and soul-crushing gridlock.
Jakarta has a shabby and chaotic public transport system and no subway, which forces more people into private vehicles. Jakartans buy more than 440 cars and 1,400 motorbikes every day, says Widodo.
Then there are the slums: more than 4.7 million Jakartans live in them, he says.
Jakarta’s burgeoning population has overwhelmed city planners since Indonesia won independence in 1945. This explains why many of Widodo’s solutions involve moving people.
Widodo’s immediate goal is to transfer more than 100,000 families from slums into public housing during his first term. That’s about half a million people. His longer-term plan is even more ambitious: to re-house a total of 370,000 poor families.
“NEW STAR”
When President Yudhoyono made an impromptu visit to a fishing village in Banten province in January, the Indonesian media accused him of trying to boost his flagging popularity with a distinctive Widodo tactic.
“Jokowi is a new star,” Yudhoyono said in April. “He could be a contender for the presidency someday.” But he said Widodo needed more time as Jakarta governor to learn how to run a large organisation.
Yudhoyono’s own Democratic Party offers no credible rivals. Widodo remains more popular than any other declared presidential candidates. Aburizal Bakrie, the billionaire leader of the Golkar party, lacks his rags-to-riches story and common touch. Prabowo Subianto, the Gerindra party candidate, is sullied by human rights abuses committed by Indonesia’s special forces, which he once commanded.
Even so, the PDI-P will announce Widodo’s candidacy as late as possible, says the senior party official. “If we announce it now, everyone will make him a target and gun him down between now and next year.”
REUTERS
