Issues of the day: Jokowi epitomizes rationalism of voters

Paper Edition | Page: 8

July 18, p. 7

The race for the post of Jakarta governor will go to a second round, pitting the incumbent, Fauzi Bowo, against Surakarta Mayor Joko Widodo, or “Jokowi”.

Many believe that Jokowi will pull ahead of Fauzi in the runoff following his surprise showing in the election on Wednesday last week.

Jokowi, best known for his gentlemanliness and promotion of a locally assembled car, the Esemka, is likely to beat Fauzi, since the Jakarta gubernatorial election truly represents soaring political rationalism, which emphasizes the need for a reformer. Jokowi is considered a real leader and a contemporary public figure par excellence. (By Donny Syofyan, Padang, West Sumatra)

Your comments:

Jakarta’s governor should be a professional leader. He should be elected based on his professionalism, not his ethnicity.

Moch Widianto EP

Being an outsider, I do not really know about the capabilities of Mr. Joko Widodo. The proof of the pudding is in the eating.

I can only hope for Jakarta and Indonesia that he really can transform the city into a tangible success, which all his predecessors have been promising with hollow words.

I wish the man all the best in this Herculean task and look forward to the first signs of improvement.

Jorith Arbier

Jokowi is a popular leader in Solo. He is very populist.

Many are optimistic that Jokowi will become the governor of Jakarta. I support Jokowi because he’s a good person.

Bagus Setyo Budi

I hope under Jokowi, Jakarta will make significant progress. He needs to address the traffic jams and rampant crime.

Star

Jokowi is a good man. I believe he is a leader who can be trusted by all people. He has a great commitment to what he should do. Hopefully, he will win.

Andri Kurniawan