Jokowi, Indonesia's Rising Star

News Focus: JOKOWI, INDONESIA'S RISING STAR By Yoseph Hariyadi Jakarta, Dec 31 (Antara) - Joko Widodo is easily one of the most popular names in Indonesia right now. The Jakarta governor, Joko Widodo, since his election in late 2012, has been making news with his populist style of leadership marked by his activities of visiting neighborhoods to reach out to people to understand problems they face, popularly called "blusukan" in Javanese language. With his humble performance - he almost always wears the same attire - white shirt with sleeves rolled up and black trousers - different from that worn by most state officials, the former mayor of Solo, a small city in Central Java, has so far been able to gain public affection. He has also attracted the compassion of the Sundanese, the majority population in West Java, according to the Center of Studies and Statistical Expertise (PK2S) of state Padjadjaran University in Bandung, West Java. After a year in office, Jokowi as he is known has already been successful in relocating illegal street vendors in Tanah Abang to a shopping center, making the roads accessible in the busy business area. It was certainly not an easy job, considering several attempts have been made by others for many years, in vain! He has also been able to "normalize" Pluit and Ria Rio dams, which were partly occupied by illegal settlers for years. Due to these and several other remarkable achievements, he has ably created "Jakarta Baru" (New Jakarta) as his election campaign slogan, and many have therefore expressed their wish that he runs for president in the forthcoming elections. Add to it, several surveys conducted by various institutes that have revealed that Jokowi would top the list of probable presidential candidates, among other heavy weights such as Aburizal Bakries, the general chairman of Golkar Party, Prabowo Subianto from Gerindra Party or Wiranto, the general chairman of Hanura Party. Will Jokowi`s popularity prevail until the presidential election scheduled on July 9, or will other rival figures emerge? The country`s top state University of Indonesia in its recent research found that there are 12 out of the 21 figures who could become strong rivals for Jokowi during the presidential election next year. "We are trying to seek sparring partners (for Jokowi) to make democracy healthy. Stop surveys as the results would be the same and so will not be useful. We are seeking quality figures," stated head of the university`s political psychology laboratory, Hamdi Muluk, when presenting the results of the research on Sunday (Dec. 29). In view of that, 61 experts involved in the research have found 21 potential figures to rival Jokowi, he explained. Hamdi added that out of the 21 figures, the experts later selected 12 under the age of 55 years. "The 61 experts agreed that a young leader is the need of the hour," he noted. Meanwhile, other criteria used to determine probable leaders are integrity, meaning they have never been involved in legal cases especially relating to corruption, collusion and nepotism, ability to inspire people as well as an impressive track record of achievements, he explained. Based on them, he stated, the 61 experts found 12 figures namely Tri Rismaharini (7.38 points), Basuki Tjahaja Purnama (7.28 points), Anies Baswedan (7.04), Chairul Tanjung (6.43), Abraham Samad (6.42), Ignatius Jonan (6.40), Emirsyah Satar (6.32), Chatib Basri (6.30), Eko (6.10), Tri Mumpuni (6.03), Nurdin (5.79) and Ahmad Heryawan (5.32). Tri Rismaharini is currently mayor of Surabaya, Indonesia`s second largest city, while Basuki is Jakarta deputy governor and Anies Baswedan is an academician. Hamdi added that people had rejected older people and had wanted new candidates with certain accomplishments. "People want Jokowi and have rejected others. This is not healthy for democracy. Democracy must produce competition between best candidates. And the other best candidate now is Tri Rismaharini," he stressed. Hamdi also stated that the most important criterion for being a presidential candidate was moral integrity, meaning that the person was not attached to businessmen, and one who would be ready to resign in case he committed a mistake. He added that moral integrity was a problem at the moment, and therefore older, known candidates were considered uninspiring for the future of Indonesia. He stated that the Jokowi phenomena had changed the country`s political landscape. People now need concrete evidence; they want to check possible shortcomings of candidates, and so, Jokowi has competition from other `Jokowis", he noted as he explained the need for research. He stated that the 61 experts had tested their vision, leadership, intellectual, political and political communication skills, emotional stability, managerial skills, performance and moral integrity. So far there has been no certainty yet if Jokowi would run for president. A decision is yet to be taken by former president Megawati Soekarnoputri who is currently the chairperson of Jokowi�s Indonesia Democratic Party Struggle (PDIP). When asked about his decision, Jokowi refused to comment, requesting that the question be directed to Megawati. "I am still concentrating on solving problems in Jakarta which are abundant," he reiterated. Megawati, who has been seen often with Jokowi on several occasions of late, has stated that PDIP`s presidential candidate will be determined only after the results of the legislative elections on April 9. Indeed, the results of the election will be decisive. Based on the election law, only those parties that win at least 25 percent of national votes or 20 percent seats in the House of Representatives are eligible to nominate their presidential candidates. PDIP has to pass the threshold in order to be able to nominate its presidential candidate else, it has to cooperate with other parties and cannot determine its own candidate. As with Tri Rismaharani, who is also from PDIP, no party has ever voiced its intention to nominate her as presidential candidate so far. When asked, she pointed out that she has not given this a thought as yet. Will Jokowi or Tri Rismaharani run for president? Will new faces emerge to compete in the election next year? Everything will be revealed only after the legislative elections.