Jokowi-Ahok 100 Days

Since they were elected last September, Jakarta Governor Joko Widodo a.k.a Jokowi and Vice Governor Basuki a.k.a Ahok have been the "darling" of the mass media. Almost everything they said and done have been reported to the public. 

Although Jokowi-Ahok never set any target for their first 100th. day in offices, which happens to be today, but the news media seems to be very anxious to report about their progress. 

According to news media reports, during the election campaign, Jokowi and Ahok have promised, among others :
1)  Construction of mass transportation to reduce traffic jam : MRT and Monorail
2)  Development of villages and slum area
3)  Distribution of Health card and Smart card, e-ID card

What has been done was the distribution of Health, Smart and E-ID cards. The development of villages and slum area is still being planned, while the MRT and Monorail construction projects are being reviewed and discussed with the Jakarta People's Representative Council..

Their works was obstructed by the continuous heavy rainfall that has widely inundated Jakarta and vicinity last Thursday until Sunday.  

In my opinion it is too early to assess the work of Jokowi-Ahok in just 100 days, considering that there are so many problems that must be solved in Jakarta.

Picture: Courtesy of Kompas

Jakarta in State of Emergency

                        Downtown Jakarta inundated by flood (The Jakarta Globe)

In the last three days the rain falls heavily in Jakarta and neighboring towns of Bogor, Depok, Tangerang and Bekasi.

             President SBY (blue shirt) inspecting flooded Palace (The Jakarta Globe)

And today, Thursday 17 January, the heavy rainfall has caused severe flooding in most parts of the city forcing many government and business offices to close because their staffs cannot come to work.
The media reported that thousands of people in Jakarta and vicinity have been forced to leave their homes, the Presidential Palace was flooded that President SBY (the above photo) has to rescheduled his meeting with Argentinian President from morning to afternoon. The Busway transportation network has to stop its operation at 9.15 am, and trains from out of town must stop at certain train stations that are not flooded, cannot reach the city's downtown.

                                          Flooded residential area (Kompas)

According to an official of the Meteorological, Climatology and Geophysical Agency the rainfall could get worse in the next few days.

Considering the above facts, the Governor of Jakarta Joko Widodo a.k.a Jokowi, has placed the capital city under state of emergency starting today until 27 January 2013. The announcement was made after he discussed with the Coordinating Minister of People's Welfare and the Head of National Disaster Mitigation Agency at his office earlier today.

Under this emergency status, the municipality government to take extraordinary actions to respond to the flooding crisis. According to Jokowi, this is a short term solution for the flood which enable the government to purchase necessary things like toilets, blankets and other needs without going through a tender.

Meanwhile, the Police and the Army has send their men to help victims of the flood. 

Jokowi, the rising Leader

On 5 November 2010 I posted an article titled  " Prospective Leader: Jokowi "  most of the content was actually a copy paste of a blog-post of Unspun of Maverick PR Consultant in Jakarta.

In the blog post, Unspun wrote that Joko Widodo a.k.a Jokowi (51), mayor of Solo, Central Java, for two terms (2005-2010 and 2010-2015) has become a legend because he has shown what one man with integrity and political will can do for a city and, by extension, for the country.

I was not surprised when Jokowi and his running mate Basuki a.k.a Ahok won the first round of election for the governor of Jakarta on 11 July 2012, and final round on 20 September 2012. although they were only supported by minority nationalist parties i.e. the PDIP and Gerindra, each of which own 11 and 6 seats out of the total of 94 seats in the Jakarta regional Parliament.

Congrats and goodluck Jokowi and Ahok.