Jokowi - JK Ideal Duet: Press Council

Jakarta, April 15 (Antara) - Chairman of the Indonesian Press Council Bagir Manan stated that Joko Widodo (Jokowi), and Jusuf Kalla could be an ideal presidential and vice presidential duet in the next July presidential race. "Jokowi and Jusuf Kalla, better known as JK, are young and senior statesmen, respectively. So, if we look at their respective performance, it seems be ideal for them to pair up," Bagir Manan noted here on Tuesday. He explained that Jokowi, who came from Solo, Central Java, and took over as Jakarta governor, was very attractive to the Indonesian people. "It seems that the people want to see a simple man who can manage the country. We have many great men but many problems adversely emerge. The people want to try a man with modest appearance, and who works on what the people really need," the Press Council chairman emphasized. JK, on the other hand, has high skills politically, and vast experience in government as well as in the management of the economy. "Both of them are businessmen. JK is senior and Jokowi is junior. I don`t see any reasonable concern that JK will aggressively take the lead in making a decision (in government) because there are the rules of the game in the partnership," Bagir added. He pointed out that as long as they follow the rules of the game, there will be no problem with the Jokowi-JK pair-up. This has been proven during the SBY-JK duet in the Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono`s first term of government. "They can run the government well. I don`t think that JK, with his cultural background, is a man who has the character to sidestep people in above him. He is not that kind of a man. After all, we do not know yet whether we can find a man who is greater than JK," he reiterated.