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| (rmol.co) |
Controversial drug executions, along with a problematic police appointment, are taking the shine off the once-promising, newly elected Indonesian leader:
What does this say about Jokowi, as the president is universally known? Most importantly, his blank slate is increasingly being filled in and there are actually few surprises. He is a small-town businessman from East Java, a man who travelled for his successful furniture business but is not worldly; he is not an intellectual, a policy analyst or – importantly – an internationalist.
Those close to him say he gathers opinions from a wide array of sources but he governs by instinct and does not brook dissent inside the ruling circle once a decision has been made. In some areas this is undoubtedly a good thing, such as his desire to clear away obstacles to investment and streamline the bureaucracy. His predecessor, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, seemed obsessed with personal popularity and he delayed decisions and seldom took the lead on controversial issues. He played to the international community, often making hollow promises such as his 2010 headline-grabbing pledge to act boldly on carbon emissions after which he failed to take the tough moves at home that would have put real weight behind the promise.
In ordering the midnight Sunday executions to go forward, however, Jokowi showed his darker side. Such a move – obviously anti-foreign and self-righteous – ignored not just international feeling against capital punishment but the realities of Indonesia’s courts and the drug trade locally. It is an open secret here that the police often protect drug traffickers and own night clubs where drugs are openly sold. In addition, the courts are notoriously corrupt, which make the death penalty all the more chilling.
The message from the new president, however, is simple. He has made it clear he is no liberal or easy-going leader. He is willing to use judicial killing to make a point: we are tough and uncompromising. “The war against the drug mafia should not be half-hearted measures, because drugs have really ruined the good life of the drug users and their families,” Jokowi said in a Facebook post on Sunday. “The country must be present and fight with drug syndicates head-on.”
In Indonesia as elsewhere drug syndicates are complex beasts, usually protected from above. To kill a drug mule like Vietnamese woman Tran Thi Bich Hanh, who faced the guns Sunday, does little to go after a presumed mafia. What it does do is allow a new president to burnish his domestic credentials with those who fear foreigners, favor harsh punishments and have a simplistic view of the world.
(Asia Sentinel)
Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Tedjo Edhy Purdijatno said on Saturday that the President was in a difficult position, as he could not squander the political support from the House, which until recently has been very belligerent toward his administration.
“Pak Jokowi has to accommodate the [House’s] political decision. If he doesn’t, then it would be unconstitutional. He could be questioned or even undergo an impeachment process. His rivals in the House could focus on any mistake of his,” Tedjo told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.
It was impossible for Jokowi to back down and the President had only postponed Budi’s inauguration, Tedjo said.
(Jakarta Post)
Until the July of last year, Basuki served as Joko’s second-in-command during the latter’s short term as Jakarta governor, which started in 2012.
Basuki was seen then as the outspoken counterpart of calm, collected Joko.
Basuki officially became governor in November, a month after Joko ascended to the presidency. He faces resistance from a hard-line Islamist minority who refused to accept a Chinese Christian as leader of a predominantly Muslim-populated capital.
While Basuki has continued to win praises for his unwavering stance against corrupt Jakarta bureaucrats, Joko’s administration — formerly regarded as a populist and reformist political movement — seems to be rapidly losing public support.
Political analysts have even publicly slammed the string of poor choices the president has made in recent weeks as reflecting his inability to fight “old-guard” political figures of his party.
And while Basuki is now without a political party, following his resignation from the Great Indonesia Movement (Gerindra) Party, over its support for a law that eliminated sub-national elections for governors, mayors and district chiefs, Joko is seen as moving deeper and deeper under the shadow of his patron, Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri.
(Jakarta Globe)
“His popularity and electability should not make him blind and then think that whatever policy he makes will get public support,” said Amir Syamsuddin, former attorney general and currently a senior member of the central board of the Democratic Party whose patron is former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
As reported by Detik.com on Sunday (18/1), Amir was referring to the widespread public protests against the President’s nomination of graft suspect Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan to be National Police Chief. Although the nomination was made before the announcement of ‘suspect’ by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), there was a clear signal that the three-star general might be declared a graft suspect.
Jokowi’s nomination of Budi to be the sole candidate for the top cop position raised the eyebrows of his supporters. This included volunteer groups that had last year mobilized full-scale campaigns to bring Jokowi to the presidency. The President is now reportedly in a difficult position.
(Global Indonesian Voices)
The President may well remember that while image is a valid part of his political arsenal, myths on popularity are often a diagnostic error, and his term is far too long for him to ride on the coat tails of sheer public faith alone.
The country needs a leader made of steel, not just a pleasant Teflon coating.
(Jakarta Post)
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