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.

Political Parties and Leaders

According to the laws in Indonesia, national and regional elections can only be participated by candidates who are supported by political parties, thus political parties played a dominant role in Indonesian politics.

Considering this fact, political parties can be regarded as the recruiters and incubators of political leaders in Indonesia. 

In this regards, I would like to quote an article that I read on The Jakarta Globe below. Happy reading

Indonesia's Parties Fail to Incubate Leaders
John McBeth - Straits Times Indonesia | July 12, 2011

The saddest thing about the implosion of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's scandal-ravaged Democrat Party is the way it has seriously damaged two of its youngest leaders - chairman Anas Urbaningrum and Sports Minister Andi Mallarangeng.

For them, there may be no way back.

Urbaningrum, a 42-year-old East Java political science graduate is unique. In a country where 54 percent of the population is under 30 and new-generation figures are paradoxically in short supply, he is the youngest politician to have headed a major political party.

By crushing Mallarangeng, Yudhoyono's preferred candidate, in a head-to-head vote last year, the party-savvy Urbaningrum offered at least a glimmer of hope that Indonesia's political guard may be changing as the country enters a second decade of democratic rule.

But only a glimmer. Unless someone appears out of the woodwork in the coming year, the field for the 2014 presidential race is likely to be filled by many of the same familiar faces.
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Crisis in Egypt is a "wake-up" Call for Indonesia

Egypt is a transcontinental country, mainly located in North Africa partly in South West Asia, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean, the Middle East and the Islamic world.

The country has a population of 79 million people living in a land area of 1,050,000 KM2, and is famous for its ancient civilization with famous monuments like the Pyramid complex and the Sphinx.

Egypt is not a strange country for Indonesia. Our former President Soekarno and Egyptian President Nasser together with Indian President Nehru and Yugoslavian President Tito founded the Non-Allign Movement in 1961. Many Indonesian scholars studied at the Al-Azhar Islamic University in the Egyptian capital city of Cairo.

Besides, both countries shared similar modern history i.e. they have been governed by pro-American authoritarian regimes lead by ex military men, Indonesia by former President Soeharto from 1966 until 1998, and Egypt by President Hosni Mubarak from 1981 until now.   

Further, both countries share the same problems, i.e. the majority of people living in poverty, plagued by never ending injustice, corruption and abuse of power, all of which have lead to people's demand for social, political and economical changes in Indonesia on May 1998, and in Egypt starting 25 January 2011.

Like the former Soeharto regime who made efforts to silence opposition and protests, the Mubarak regime tried to silence protests by shutting down the internet network, mobile telecommunications, impose curfew, and used force causing the death of around 100 people.

I hope that the situation in Egypt would remind every leaders in Indonesia, starting from the President down to Kampung chiefs, and members of the central and regional House of Representatives that they are holding powers because people have trusted them to hold them for a limited time. Such power will be taken away from them if people do not trust them anymore.

So if those leaders still want to hold their power, they should do their very best to eradicate Poverty, Injustice, Corruption, Abuse of Power, and develop the country  merely based on the people's interests, and not the interests of their own or their family or friends or groups or political party.

The Government has been Lying

Last Monday, nine leaders of five religions in Indonesia alleged that the government of President Susilo Bambang Yudoyono (SBY) has been lying to the people.

For details about this, please read the following article that I have quoted from The Jakarta Post.

The Coordinating Minister for Politics, Laws and Security Djoko Suyono stated that the government has never lied to the public.

I hope that the government would pay very serious attention to the above statements and work much harder, much smarter and stop whining or making excuses.

Government tells lies: Religious leaders 

Ina Parlina, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Tue, 01/11/2011 10:34 AM | Headlines 

Nine prominent religious leaders of five religions in the country gathered on Monday, calling for the government to explain “at least 18 lies” within four days and end the lies altogether this year. 

The nine leaders, along with nine prominent activists on the environment, economy, society and human rights, said the government had told at least nine old lies and nine fresh ones.
Noted Islamic scholar Ahmad Syafii Maarif said the most embarrassing lie the government told its citizens was related to poverty.

“The government has repeated its claim on poverty eradication success, the latest figure stated 31 million live under the poverty line,” the leader told activists at the gathering hosted by Maarif Institute. 

“But the same government said in 2010 that 70 million were eligible for the rice for low-income earners program, and 76.4 million were eligible for low-income earner health subsidy.”

“It claimed that 5.8 percent of economic growth was a success, yet, small people did not feel the benefits.”

The list of new lies includes President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s promise in his speech in August last year on upholding pluralism, tolerance and freedom of religion. The fact was in 2010 there were 33 attacks in the name of religion, the group said in the discussion titled “Fight against Government Lies”.

Din Syamsuddin, chairman of Indonesia’s second-largest Muslim organization Muhammadiyah, condemned the government as “not only lying, but not keeping promises”.

Senior Indonesian Buddhist monk Sri Pannyavaro Mahathera said that it was most dangerous if the leaders were lying and they did not feel it was wrong. He said he feared such lies eventually became a normalized mental attitude accepted by the public. “If the government makes no improvement, the fight against the lie will be in vain,” he said.

Chairman of the Communion of Indonesian Churches (PGI) Andreas Yewangoe said people often let depravity in the government occur.

He feared that at some point the public might embrace such lies, saying that one lie led to another, which at some point would be perceived and accepted as the truth. Hindu leader I Nyoman Udayana Sangging said that the reality did not fulfill the people’s expectation.

“Therefore, we are determined, according to each teaching of religion, that lies should not be maintained and truth must be disclosed,” he said.

Maarif added that, “If the government does not listen to the religious leaders who just like hermits come down the mountain to give moral lessons, then, who will the government listen to?”

Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) deputy chairman Shalahuddin Wahid, head of the Indonesian Council of Bishops (KWI) Martinus Situmorang, Catholic priest Franz Magnis-Suseno and Catholic priest Benny Susetyo were among the nine religious leaders.

Among the activists were Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence coordinator Haris Azhar, Econit Advisory Group director Hendri Saparini and Migrant Care executive director Anis Hidayah.
Anis said among the President’s lies was his promise to equip migrant workers with mobile phones.

The nine old government lies according to the leaders and activists were on poverty statistics, food security and energy, access to basic needs, the fight against terrorism, human rights protection, education budget, adequate settlement for Lapindo mudflow victims, case handling on Newmont, which was accused of dumping untreated mine waste in to the sea, and Freeport’s unfulfilled contract renegotiation promised in 2006.

New ones include religious freedom and national unity, freedom of the press, protection of migrant workers, government transparency, the fight against corruption, the handling of polices’ dubious “piggy bank” accounts, clean politics, handling of the judiciary mafia case and the sovereignty of the Republic of Indonesia in relation to the arrest of three officers of the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry in Malaysia recently.

Prospective Leader : Jokowi

With a total population 238 million people, Indonesia has lots of men and women who are young, capable and eligible to lead the country at the national and regional levels.

One of them is Joko Widodo (49) a.k.a Jokowi, the Mayor of the city of Solo, Central Java for two office terms (2005-2010 and 2010-2015).

Please find below an article about Jokowi written by a Jakarta based Public Relation Consultant Unspun, whose company organized Pesta Blogger 2010, on his blog http://theunspunblog.com.
 

Water lilies, Joko Wi and Indonesian corruption                        

November 4th, 2010 § 1 Comment

What Unspun loves about living in Indonesia is that every once in a while, amid all the muck, detritus of corruption, indecision and self interest there will emerge something wonderful, like a water lily flower blooming resplendent even though it emerged from the mud.

Last night was such an occasion. It was Pecha Kucha Night, the seventh that Maverick has organized and it had a star studded list of speakers that included film director and Indonesia’s most influential Twitterer Joko Anwar, iconoclast Pragiwaksono, “Bapak Blogger” Enda Nasution was Joko Widodo, more commonly known as Joko Wi, the legendary mayor of Solo.

Joko Wi has become a legend in Indonesia because he has shown what one man with integrity and political will can do for a city and, by extension, the country. Last night he shared with the audience of about 250 people who gathered at  Es Teler 77 Resto on Aditywarman what he’s been able to achieve in Solo.

Read More ..