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One year on, Jokowi still lacks leadership, analysts say
Jakarta Post - October 20, 2015
Joko changed Indonesia's political face when he was inaugurated as president of Southeast Asia's largest economy exactly a year ago today. Not coming from strong political background, Jokowi, and his running mate, veteran businessman and politician Muhammad Jusuf Kalla, won the 2014 presidential election and took office on Oct. 20.
Promoting his administration's program, dubbed Nawa Cita, Jokowi focused on Indonesia's development with ambitious plans to turn the country into a global maritime hub with proper developed infrastructure.
As his administration hits the one-year mark, experts have both criticized and applauded Joko, whose subtle and calm persona is often mocked and labelled pencitraan (pretentious).
Backed by the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and other parties, Joko met with challenges within his own cabinet and from the PDI-P, political analyst from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) Siti Zuhro says.
She pointed to the remarks Joko's ministers have made in criticism of one another in public. "Joko is not nurturing all of his officials and he does not have concrete leadership of his own cabinet," she told thejakartapost.com on Tuesday.
Siti also highlighted a lack of communication between Joko and the PDI-P after he became President. The lack of communication raised questions and negative feedback was thrown at Joko by his fellow members of government.
Joko should have known the logical consequences that would follow when the party supported him in the general and presidential elections, Siti said. Thus, he could have prepared all his arguments and spoken directly to Megawati to ensure gain full support from the PDI-P in realizing his administration's goals.
"Joko has a lot to catch up on given his tardiness in managing his legal, political and economic recovery... [He must] give the public more certainty... everything is related," she said.
Phillip Vermonte, the head of the department of politics and international relations at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) said that Jokowi has played his political role well.
"I think the political situation is relatively stable. He managed to get what he wanted with minimum noise from the opposition, such as the fuel price increase," he said.
Phillip, however, noted that Jokowi's was still lacking credit in terms of issues of the law and corruption eradication.
"It is not clear where he stands; he is in the grey area on corruption eradication and better legal enforcement... maybe because that's where political parties fight," he said.
Joko's lack of willingness to handle law and corruption issues were also highlighted by human rights advocacy group the Setara Institute in its comments on Joko's first year.
Hendardi, chairman of Setara, said that Joko had not yet shown strong and qualified leadership in those fields. "Jokowi is only a leader in the infrastructure development, not across all aspect of Indonesia's development," he told thejakartapost.com on Sunday.
Hendardi said that Joko's leadership had not yet been effective in eradicating corruption. "It's as if he is a fire fighter on the noises that were actually created by his ministers and officials. It is difficult to expect new breakthroughs from a passive leader," he said.
In the first year of his administration, many corruption-related issues arose. In the mere three months after he took office, he proposed Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan, former aide of former president Megawati Sukarnoputri and Jokowi's chief patron in the PDI-P, as the National Police chief to the House of Representatives. A move that was rebuked by many, especially corruption activists as Budi is linked to the police's fat bank accounts fiasco.
Public uproar blocked Budi's way to becoming police chief but the issue raised questions of Joko's leadership.
There are also criminal cases against Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) commissioners, plans to revise the KPK Law and plans to provide legal protection for regional heads and ministries that have the potential to be misused, Hendardi said.
"In the name of economic and infrastructural development, Jokowi ignores fundamental aspects of civil freedom, legal innovation, corruption eradication and also human rights," he said.
Wahyudi Djafar, researcher at the Institute for Policy Research and Advocacy (ELSAM) said that he urged Joko to focus more on human rights issues, and especially put an end to past human-rights violations.
Past human-rights violations, he said, would be a barrier stopping Jokowi's administration from moving forward. "A lot of violence repeats because we are trapped in our past," he said.
"Jokowi's administration must use a human-rights focused approach in the development programs of maritime, energy, food and infrastructure because if not, there will be huge for rights violations," he told thejakartapost.com.
The PDI-P, as Jokowi's main political backer, however, applauded the former Surakarta mayor's leadership. "His leadership of national development is on the right track," PDI-P secretary general Hasto Kristiyantosaid as quoted by newsportal kompas.com.
Aburizal Bakrie, chairman of the divided Golkar party, also praised Jokowi for his efforts. "We see that Jokowi and Jusuf Kalla's administration had tried their best, especially in infrastructure development – the key to national development," he told kompas.com on Tuesday. (rin)
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