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Jokowi: A product of elite engineering
President Joko âJokowiâ Widodo may have accumulated a long list of accomplishments while serving as mayor of Surakarta (commonly known as Solo), Central Java, and during a two-year stint as Jakarta governor
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resident Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo may have accumulated a long list of accomplishments while serving as mayor of Surakarta (commonly known as Solo), Central Java, and during a two-year stint as Jakarta governor.
But without the help of a handful of political elites, who initially wanted to utilize Jokowi's personality to serve their own interests, Jokowi's achievements alone may have not been enough to lead him to the national podium.
Jokowi's candidacy and victory in the Surakarta mayoral election in 2005 would have been unlikely without the support of the city's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) chairman, FX Hadi 'Rudy' Rudyatmo, who was then one of the city's most influential politicians.
Rudy could easily have won the election himself, regardless of his running mate, given the city's vast number of die-hard PDI-P supporters.
However, due to his Catholic background, Rudy, who chaired several youth and sports organizations in the Muslim-majority city, opted to become the deputy mayor candidate.
'I know my capacity. I merely wanted to help a mayoral candidate,' Rudy told The Jakarta Post in an interview in November last year, adding that Jokowi was not a party member at the time and was only a mid-size furniture businessman.
Given Surakarta's reputation as a PDI-P stronghold, the pair easily won elections covering two terms.
A similar chance of fate led to Jokowi entering the capital in 2012 amid an ongoing battle between Jakarta's political and business titans.
In 2011, property tycoon and Public Housing Minister Djan Faridz, who was also an influential politician for the Islamic-based National Development Party (PPP) and financial backer of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Democratic Party, had become disenchanted with his ally, then Jakarta governor Fauzi Bowo.
Djan initially gathered support to challenge Fauzi in the 2012 gubernatorial election. But surveys showed that he had a slim chance of winning.
He then joined forces with former vice president Jusuf Kalla to find a worthy candidate to take on Fauzi.
Kalla eventually proposed Jokowi, a man he barely knew. Kalla had been impressed by Jokowi when they met in Semarang, Central Java, in early 2011 at an event organized by the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI), of which Kalla is the chairman.
'I helped bring Jokowi to Jakarta,' Kalla said at a gathering at his home in South Jakarta in August last year.
In early 2012, Kalla requested his trusted friend and businessman, Sofjan Wanandi, to lobby PDI-P chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri to have her party support Jokowi in the Jakarta gubernatorial election.
The proposal apparently came at a tricky time as Megawati's husband, the late Taufiq Kiemas, had pledged the PDI-P ticket to incumbent Fauzi, who was endorsed by the Democrats.
Megawati ultimately made her decision after a massive rally at the House of Representatives in March 2012 in protest against Yudhoyono's plan to raise fuel prices. Megawati, whose party rejected the government's fuel-hike plan, refused to join with the Democrats in supporting Fauzi.
Kalla then lobbied Gerindra Party chief patron Prabowo Subianto to join their band.
'It was not until Prabowo's final push that Megawati finally agreed to appoint Jokowi,' Sofjan recalled.
While waiting for Jokowi's candidacy endorsement, Kalla's camp had already launched campaigns in 2011 to help boost Jokowi's popularity, including through publicizing the Surakarta-made Esemka national car.
The development of the car, which was reportedly pioneered by Jokowi's deputy, Rudy, was packaged into a PR stunt that turned into a national media fun fair.
Jokowi won the gubernatorial election and assumed the job in October 2012. With no leading figures to contest the presidential election in June and to help boost the party's electability during the legislative election in April, Megawati finally announced in March PDI-P's nomination of Jokowi for president.
The nomination came amid an intensive public campaign in which Jokowi's modesty and concern for the grass roots were highlighted.
According to several politicians, Megawati's confirmation of the nomination may have not been possible without intensive lobbying, particularly by Kalla, Sofjan and Golkar Party senior politician and businessman Luhut Panjaitan, who happened to be Jokowi's longtime business partner in the furniture business.
