{"id":4370,"date":"2013-03-08T05:00:23","date_gmt":"2013-03-07T19:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=4370"},"modified":"2013-03-11T06:31:30","modified_gmt":"2013-03-10T20:31:30","slug":"the-audacity-of-jokowi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/the-audacity-of-jokowi\/","title":{"rendered":"The audacity of Jokowi"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Jokowi,<\/a><\/figure>\n

It\u2019s March 2013, and looking ahead to September 2014\u2014when Indonesia\u2019s new president should be elected\u2014it\u2019s too early to speculate on the result. In fact, we\u2019re not even sure who\u2019ll line up for the race. But last week,\u00a0ANU\u2019s Marcus Mietzner made a bold prediction<\/a>; that not only would Jakarta\u2019s governor, Joko Widodo (aka Jokowi) run in the presidential election, but he\u2019d win. Mietzner\u2019s case was compelling, and if\u00a0Australia has begun to give a Prabowo presidency<\/a>\u00a0some thought, it\u2019s worth reflecting on what\u00a0\u2018President Jokowi\u2019\u00a0might mean for Australia.<\/p>\n

To sum up Mietzner\u2019s presentation, Jokowi will sail to victory with a popularity (buoyed by intense media attention and pop culture appeal) and the hope of the people<\/a> that no other political figure in Indonesia\u2019s recent history has been ever able to muster. Jokowi hails from a modest background and self-made wealth as a furniture entrepreneur, which has given him a down-to-earth quality and sensitivity to the issues of Jakarta\u2019s poorer residents. For those Indonesians fatigued with the usual suspects in elections, Jokowi makes an unconventional and therefore appealing candidate. He signals the potential for a new chapter in clean politics and accountability\u2014a perspective that\u00a0opinion polls are now beginning to show<\/a>. According to one survey<\/a>, he\u2019s secured 21.2% of votes and leads the race.<\/p>\n

But there are still hurdles. The man himself has brushed aside questions of whether he\u2019ll run<\/a>, shrewdly reminding enquirers that he\u2019s elbow-deep in the city\u2019s issues. And while Mietzner outlined the logical political gains for a nomination by the\u00a0Indonesian Democratic Party\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Struggle (PDI-P)<\/a>, Megawati Sukarnoputri\u2019s party,\u00a0\u2018Ibu Mega\u2019\u00a0could, on a whim, save the ticket for herself and take a third run for the top job. Megawati\u2019s husband and PDI-P chief patron, Taufiq Kiemas, has also urged his own party to leave Jokowi out of the race<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But let\u2019s, for a moment, assume the stars align, and Jokowi seizes his chance to ride the wave of popular support all the way to the Presidential palace. That would mean good things for Australia\u2013Indonesia relations. So far, he\u2019s shown a pragmatic approach to resolving issues, first as the mayor of Solo and now the governor of Jakarta. Known for his collaborative and consultative approach, he\u2019s also keen to follow up regularly on decisions and keep the public service running efficiently, with the interests of citizens at the forefront. Last year, he introduced health care for Jakarta\u2019s poor<\/a>\u2014something unthinkable before his time.<\/p>\n

As mayor of Solo, Jokowi avoided a violent confrontation in 2005 with street vendors<\/a> when plans were announced to remove them from Banjarsari Park. He reached out to their representatives to encourage dialogue. Both sides reached an agreement, with Jokowi offering incentives that provided for vendors\u2019 needs including a new relocation site, public transport, education and training, tax breaks and loans.<\/p>\n

Jokowi\u2019s shown he can deftly balance the interests of big business and the little guy, so he comes with the right tools\u00a0to navigate nationalist pressures in areas like trade\u2014where tensions over cattle trade might remain. Canberra would also be looking to Jokowi with a hopeful eye for pragmatism and dialogue on Papua; although this might be a marginal issue for president responsible for a vast archipelago.<\/p>\n

On military matters, Jokowi doesn\u2019t have a long-standing relationship with TNI. But Mietzner believes the generals would\u00a0fall into line provided Jokowi remains a darling of the people and stays out of their internal processes. It\u2019s less clear how he\u2019d perform on thornier issues like democratic reform or national-level corruption.<\/p>\n

On the PR front, part of Jokowi\u2019s appeal is that he\u2019s seen as a civilian reformer, which might present a good opportunity to dispel Australian misperceptions of an\u00a0\u2019authoritarian Indonesia\u2019. After eight years of President SBY and 14 years of democratic transition, if the\u00a0Lowy Institute\u2019s 2011 poll<\/a>\u00a0(PDF) is to be believed, there\u2019s still an image problem. It\u2019s not incumbent on Jokowi to fix this, of course, but he might be part of the solution.<\/p>\n

But this raises more questions for Australia: if Jokowi\u2019s the\u00a0\u2019it\u2019\u00a0guy at home, would he be the\u00a0\u2019it\u2019\u00a0guy on the world stage? How comfortable would Australia be with a popular figure\u2014Indonesia\u2019s equivalent of Barack Obama\u2014next door?<\/p>\n

So far, there\u2019ve been no clear indications from Jokowi what his foreign policy would be. And as I\u00a0wrote earlier in the week<\/a>, there are still many challenges that could fetter Indonesia\u2019s ascent. As a \u2018man of the people\u2019, he could continue therefore to be focussed on domestic issues. Jokowi might even delve into foreign policy where it concerns the treatment of Indonesian workers overseas. Governor of Jakarta is one thing, but being Indonesia\u2019s President is something else entirely. But even as a governor, there are signs of international awareness: he\u2019s held his own\u00a0bilateral meetings with a number of ambassadors<\/a>. And what\u2019s more, the international media<\/a> have seized upon Jokowi’s fame. His political machinery would figure out how to further translate his domestic popularity to an international stage.<\/p>\n

This is just one possible scenario of many, and each candidate will come with their own pros and cons. Eighteen months is a long time in politics, but watch Jokowi, no matter what he and others say about his candidacy in the meantime.<\/p>\n

For now, reflecting on Jokowi\u2019s immense popularity, pop culture appeal and his can-do attitude, it\u2019s hard to keep the parallels with Obama at bay. Although these parallels are best understated, I\u2019m reminded of an\u00a0Aeon<\/em> magazine article<\/a>\u00a0which explored the idea of Obama\u2014with his cool and\u00a0halus<\/em>\u00a0composure\u2014as the US\u2019\u00a0first\u00a0\u2018Javanese president\u2019. Turning that idea on its head for a moment, as a rockstar candidate that signals an historic, new era in his country\u2019s politics, could Jokowi be Indonesia\u2019s first\u00a0\u2018Obama-esque\u2019\u00a0president? Marcus Mietzner\u2019s answer would be: yes, he can.<\/p>\n

Natalie Sambhi is an analyst at ASPI and editor of\u00a0<\/em>The Strategist. Image courtesy of www.jakarta.go.id<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s March 2013, and looking ahead to September 2014\u2014when Indonesia\u2019s new president should be elected\u2014it\u2019s too early to speculate on the result. In fact, we\u2019re not even sure who\u2019ll line up for the race. But …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":4374,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[118],"tags":[17,285,8,377,376],"class_list":["post-4370","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-australia-and-its-region","tag-australia","tag-foreign-policy","tag-indonesia","tag-joko-widodo","tag-politics"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe audacity of Jokowi | The Strategist<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/the-audacity-of-jokowi\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The audacity of Jokowi | The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It\u2019s March 2013, and looking ahead to September 2014\u2014when Indonesia\u2019s new president should be elected\u2014it\u2019s too early to speculate on the result. 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