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When first impressions matter: Jokowi's inaugural speech
Joko âJokowiâ Widodo, who took office as the seventh President of the Republic of Indonesia on Oct
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oko 'Jokowi' Widodo, who took office as the seventh President of the Republic of Indonesia on Oct. 20, delivered one of the briefest presidential inaugural speeches in the nation's history.
Inaugural speeches matter because they carry important messages of how a newly elected leader will steer people toward development and the ideals of democracy.
Traditionally, an inaugural speech is a critical opportunity for a president to communicate his or her vision and goals for the country.
For the public, the speech is a good opportunity to observe a president's style of communication and leadership and to anticipate how the President will run the country.
Jokowi replaced Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who served two terms as Indonesia's sixth president. A retired general and former minister under his predecessor Megawati Soekarnoputri, Yudhoyono's rise to the presidential seat was no less significant than the phenomenon of Jokowi, because Yudhoyono was elected in the nation's first two direct presidential elections, which ran peacefully in accordance with democratic ideals.
If Arend Lijphart's (2012) two-turnover test becomes the standard for defining a consolidated democracy, then Jokowi's presidential inauguration confirms Indonesia's status. Lijphart theorizes that a democracy is consolidated when it has gone through at least three consecutive peaceful democratic elections and transitions from a losing predecessor, to the incumbent and then to the subsequent successor.
In addition to Indonesia's accomplishment in moving closer toward a consolidated democracy, many people characterize Jokowi as a symbol of new hope for all political outsiders who wish to enter the race for a future presidency. Unlike Yu-dhoyono and other past presidents, all of whom were members of the political elite, Jokowi started off as a small-scale furniture businessman. His first political job was as mayor of the Central Java city of Surakarta, before being elected governor of Jakarta.
As this was Jokowi's first inauguration, the variable to be compared with his inaugural speech is Yudhoyono's first inaugural speech in 2004.
From the structure of their speeches, the most apparent difference between Yudhoyono's inaugural speech in 2004 and Jokowi's in 2014 is their length. While the word count for the English translation of Yudhoyono's speech was approximately 2,000 words, the English translation of Jokowi's speech contains around 800 words.
In terms of length, Yudhoyono's speech is comparable to second US president John Adams' 1797 inaugural speech of 2,308 words, whereas the number of words in Jokowi's speech is close to the longest sentence in Adams' same inaugural speech ' and in the history of American Inaugural Addresses ' a sentence of 737 words.
Hence, listeners could be forgiven for identifying Yudhoyono as someone who wants to be as informative as possible, while Jokowi prefers to keep things simple.
The organization of Yudhoyono's speech successfully delivered clarity. He began by acknowledging his predecessors and crediting the General Elections Commission (KPU) for its success in delivering a democratic election.
The main body and largest portion of his speech relayed the challenges Indonesia faced and his plans to tackle them.
Then he thanked each foreign official present by his or her complete name and title. Yudhoyono ended his speech by reminding his audience of his plan to formally announce his Cabinet the following day and by asking for the people's blessing.
The organization of Jokowi's speech, on the other hand, was not as classifiable as that of Yudhoyono. Jokowi began his speech by emphasizing the need for hard work and cooperation from the people.
The main body of his speech described his broad vision for a stronger Indonesia, with a small portion focusing on his primary goal to bolster the nation's maritime strengths. It wasn't until near the end of the speech that he briefly acknowledged his predecessors and thanked his foreign guests for coming.
The content of Yudhoyono's speech was more technical than Jokowi's. Yudhoyono provided a long list of his priorities including the challenges that concerned him and his broad action plan to address them.
He even mentioned twice item number one on his to-do list ' the announcement of his Cabinet. 'Administration' was the most frequently used word in Yudhoyono's speech.
Although the content of Jokowi's speech resembled an abstract paper about a massive nationwide project without specifying the methodology, Jokowi successfully communicated his desire to provide more accessible public services and more accountable government agencies.
What made Jokowi's inaugural speech distinct was his emphasis on the greatness of Indonesia's seas.
He successfully delivered his message about prioritizing his work agenda to focus on developing Indonesia's maritime potential. 'Work' was the most frequently used word in Jokowi's speech.
Despite their differences, there were two similarities in the inaugural speeches.
Firstly, Yudhoyono and Jokowi shared a view on implementing a free and active foreign policy. Secondly, they both cited Sukarno's uplifting messages. Yudhoyono used one of Sukarno's slogans to call for national unity ('United we stand, divided we fall'), while Jokowi mentioned a phrase Sukarno had used in a 1953 speech to call for the nation's courage and determination.
The term invokes the qualities of a dedicated sailor and it resonated wonderfully with Jokowi's main agenda. It concurrently demonstrated Jokowi's consistency in highlighting maritime affairs as the main theme of his speech.
I am not trying to judge which style is better or worse. Rather, this analysis should be taken as a sign of appreciation for both presidents' efforts to convince the nation and the world of their ability to use well the power bestowed on them by the people and to persuade everyone to work together in fulfilling their visions.
Indonesian history has shown that it has never been easy to be the captain of a ship of 240 million passengers. However, the average Indonesia now hopes that President Jokowi's policies and government can produce the same efficiency that he showed in his inaugural speech.
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The writer is 2014 Arryman fellow at Northwestern University.
