T

he leadership style of Jokowi-Ahok, the new governor and deputy governor of Jakarta, has been very interesting and has attracted much commentary. Many applaud the new approach, the people of Jakarta have been longing for change for some time.

That the YouTube videos of Jokowi-Ahok have been watched more than 5 million times shows people’s desire for renewal of leadership in this country.

Leadership really does matter in shaping the character and quality of public services and government institutions. Leaders give meaning to the people within the organizations they lead, and are role models for coping with particular circumstances and creating a dynamic environment.

Unfortunately, although policymakers speak of its importance, leadership discourse and development is eclipsed by political and legal hysteria in Indonesia. Key policy and decision makers in this country still maintain that leadership about power, formal or legal authority, status and position.

Leadership is about making a difference, spreading influence through inspiration, having and sharing visions, promoting goals and values that shape character as well as spirit, and about learning and growing in sustainable ways. Neither the public nor government officials seem to understand that.

What is the real relevance of the Jokowi-Ahok leadership? Can we learn anything about changing the organizational environment and leadership approach from them that can be applied to the nation as a whole?

Change is inevitable. When Jokowi talks to mayors, district heads and sub-district leaders about the need for them to engage with their environment, he actually speaks about the urgency and importance of transformation in leadership culture. He is talking about a change from power orientation to service orientation: from dictatorship to democracy.

The problems facing Jakarta are complex. They require engaging leaders. Engaging leaders probe situations in responsive and effective ways.

When Ahok bluntly told the public works agency to reduce its budget by 25 percent and to change the way it prepares the budget, it speaks volumes of change. We saw (on YouTube!) the uneasy and uncomfortable gestures and attitudes of public works officials in their response to the deputy governor’s briefing.

Government officials need strategic minds to respond to vigorous change in their environment. In many cases they are simply unready, unwilling or incapable. The paradigm, in place for decades, is absolute compliance to regulations, decrees and bureaucratic procedures that they themselves have set up.

The bureaucratic system in the country has directly or indirectly built a comfort zone for their working style.

Working is about following the rules without thinking, inspiring or making a difference, without creativity and innovation. No wonder when Jokowi-Ahok set the new rules of the game, these laggards suddenly find themselves incapable of adapting to the change.

The YouTube broadcast of Ahok’s budget meeting with the public works agency officials has been viewed more than 1.3 million times. It has fueled polemic about its importance and relevance for building the new Jakarta, with regard to both the meeting itself and the broadcast of the meeting.

Many think that the broadcast is nothing more than the unnecessary public humiliation of officials. Others want to hope that the YouTube show revealed a new reality in the era of multi-media and Internet technology: secrecy, collusion, cronyism and conspiracy have no place in the public realm any longer.

Information that previously “belonged” strictly to public institutions has now become part of the public domain. The change has, again, come as a shock for government officials.

Jokowi and Ahok are demonstrating that leadership is relevant and can play an important role in transforming the city into a new frontier. The real test of their leadership success will be infusing and sustaining the mind-set of our public servants. Can they shape the strategic capability of this city to perform in the long run?

Jakarta needs a new breed of leaders, who do not depend on formal authority, formal position, political and coercive power to perform their duties. Jokowi and Ahok need to substantiate their leadership with the will, commitment and capability to nurture likeminded leaders at all levels of the administration

The city is begging for a new kind of leader who has the capability and motivation to make a difference, regardless of the challenge and limitations that they face.

It will require the spirit, mind, heart and body of the city to make it happen. Institutional reform is the key, otherwise the pair’s efforts will be reduced to a euphoric, rhetorical game; a political game that still characterizes our country’s bureaucrats, politicians and political elites.

Novianta Hutagalung is a public sector organization consultant and Samsu Bahar Arifin is a strategic management consultant.