J

oko Widodo, known popularly by his nickname as Jokowi, has had no political education. He graduated from the forestry school at Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta. He had no experience of bureaucracy until his colleagues in the furniture business encouraged him to run for Surakarta mayor in 2005, which of course he won. They even raised his campaign funds.

Jokowi ran on the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) ticket, defeating the two other candidates who were substantially more experienced and initially more popular than him.

By the end of his five-year term, it was the Surakarta residents themselves who asked him to run again. This support of local people for his reelection was not some fabricated political scenario. Jokowi won a second mandate that year securing a record 90 percent of the vote, an achievement hardly anyone can match in a genuinely democratic election.

The same path — requested by others — was apparently taken by Jokowi before he eventually agreed to run for the Jakarta governorship in July last year. It was a difficult decision for him as he was only in the second year of his second term. He was widely criticized by many as fly-by-night opportunist.

Former vice president Jusuf Kalla was among those who claimed to have had a hand in influencing Jokowi’s decision.

“I called him and asked him to run for the Jakarta governorship. I told him that I would ask permission from Ibu Mega [Megawati Soekarnoputri, the chairwoman of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle and former president] on his behalf,” said Kalla, days after Jokowi was declared the winner and new governor of Jakarta.

But Jokowi always told Surakartans when explaining the reasons why he chose to fight for the Jakarta post, that it was a “party” job, apparently in reference to the PDI-P and Megawati.

Jokowi has a first-class record as a bureaucrat in Surakarta. His notably successful relocation of street vendors without violence or coercion and his hallmark blusukan (unannounced inspections) which he now continues in Jakarta, have drawn a number of individuals and power groups to begin trying to persuade him to run for a higher position — the presidency — with the presidential election only a year away.

These seemingly wild aspirations that Jokowi might run for presidency are not without grounds. Nearly all leaders or leading politicians of most political parties — some are even potential candidates — have been convicted or implicated in a plethora of corruption cases. Others have been accused of past human rights abuses and even war crimes. It is only logical that people would look for a candidate who is free from links to corruption, nepotism, torture or genocide.

At this particular point in time, Jokowi looks like the best candidate for the country’s number one post.

Statistics-wise Jokowi is among the top contenders. Polls consistently show that Jokowi would even beat Megawati, and Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) chief patron Prabowo Subianto.

In October 2012, a study by the National Survey Institute (LSN) revealed Jokowi was one to be reckoned with, as he was able to attract the sympathy of the public. A survey by the Indonesian Youth Alliance for Change (API Perubahan) in December found that among younger voters, Jokowi was the most popular candidate for the 2014 presidential election “because young people really want change”.

Also in late 2012, another survey, compiled by the Poll Tracking Institute in Jakarta, said Jokowi topped a list of young potential candidates for the 2014 poll. As much as 78 percent of respondents were in favour of Jokowi.

Most recently, a survey by the Center for Integrated Data (PDB) released last week shows that Jokowi tops the list of 13 potential presidential candidates, with an electability rate of 21.2 percent, above Prabowo who came second with 18.4 percent and Megawati third with 13.0 percent.

Jokowi has repeatedly played down any possibility of a candidacy next year, saying that defeating Jakarta’s urban problems — traffic jams and flooding the most obvious two — was his main priority at the moment.

Ethically, this is the only stance that he can take as it will silence the negative voices who say that not only is he a grasshopper, but he is hungry for power.

Success in Jakarta (by completing his five-year term as governor) will surely increase his profile and give him an advantage in running for higher political office not in 2014, but in the subsequent 2019 presidential election.

But nothing is impossible in politics.

Should there be increasing calls from more and more quarters, coupled with the consistent results of surveys that continuously favor him and an eventual nod or nudge from Megawati, there must be a huge possibility that Jokowi will accept the nomination.

Yes, of course he will have to explain again to his constituents, not only in Surakarta, but also in Jakarta, that his bid for presidency is not part of his ambition, but merely a mandate from many people, particularly from the PDI-P, where he belongs.

There is another aspect that Jokowi has to consider: momentum.

In this case, it is he himself who will consider and decide whether 2014 is the right time to run or whether he should wait until 2019.

As American humorist Art Buchwald puts it: “Whether it’s the best of times or the worst of times, it’s the only time we’ve got”.