W

ith all due respect to Jakarta Governor Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo, I think the time is not yet right for him to be a presidential candidate. Jokowi has absolutely no experience with regard to domestic politics and he does not know anything at all about international politics.

Neither has he any idea about the political wheeling and dealing in Indonesia. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono performed his political internship under former president Soeharto, and was then a Cabinet minister in Megawati Soekarnoputri'€™s government.

This means that President Yudhoyono had many years of experience in the political arena before becoming president. Since becoming leader, Yudhoyono has boosted Indonesia'€™s foreign policy, and I cannot see Jokowi continuing in this direction.

Running a city like Jakarta is already proving a headache for Jokowi. Just before he became governor, he promised to make Jakarta flood-free. However, I have not seen him make any effort to address this massive problem.

During the severe flooding earlier this year, he was surrounded by journalists who asked him why he had failed to free Jakarta of flooding. His answer was, '€œThe Public Works Agency has not done its job properly.'€

Both the successes and failures regarding Jakarta'€™s policies are Jokowi'€™s responsibility. Blaming other parties for his failure is extremely weak. If he cannot run Jakarta well enough as governor, he will certainly fail as president.

Indonesia is an enormous country with 235 million people. It is far more challenging to manage than just the capital city.

Lynna van der Zee-Oehmke
Bogor, West Jawa