T

he past week has shown citizens and President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo alike the rocky road ahead. Many are no longer taking it for granted that the road will extend for five years, or even five months. At least the public enemies are revealing themselves in their naked spectacle of wanton power abuse, to cite the antigraft body spokesman Johan Budi. All four commissioners of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) have been reported to the National Police, with deputy Bambang Widjojanto already named a suspect.

Blame for the President'€™s weak posturing has been heaped on Jokowi himself, his patron, Megawati Soekarnoputri and other allies, the top brass of the National Police and the House of Representatives, where Megawati'€™s party is a minority. Seen in this light his former rival, Prabowo Subianto, looked like an old friend when meeting the President on Thursday.

But as it is said, a nation gets the President it deserves.

It was a victory for Indonesians when the former Jakarta governor was voted our seventh president, and was a sharp break from the old mold of leaders. But barely 100 days after his inauguration, the former furniture businessman has revealed the limitations of leading without the traditionally strong ties to the military, political or business elite. After 15 years of reformasi, idealists still largely shun politics, leaving popular leaders alone at the top when facing the demands of the old KKN (corruption, collusion and nepotism).

Despite disheartening public criticism, Jokowi should know full well that critics are merely reminding him of why they supported him in the first place.

It took presidential backbone to remove the wasteful fuel subsidy that had entrenched the luxury of the middle class, helping earlier rulers sustain decades of support.

Citizens are now starting to embrace the entitlement to universal health coverage endorsed by Jokowi'€™s predecessor, which promises mounting expectations on his presidency for improving the system.

A fresh start for the nation included his reminder that we had '€œturned our backs on the ocean'€ for too long; thus, Jokowi has begun focusing on infrastructure and policies supporting our fisheries, maritime transport and the largely impoverished state of our fishermen.

And so Jokowi has had a stuttering start, as indicated also by a Cabinet composed of ministers who instinctively understand the radical changes necessary for meeting their boss'€™ expectations and others who have no clue whatsoever. Thus, the President may need to reiterate the guidelines mentioned in his campaign'€™s nine-program Nawacita.

Cabinet members should rapidly translate into action the many plans we have heard.

This weekend, many rallies are scheduled that will be highly critical of the President. While protesters will be reminding Jokowi to stick to his campaign pledges, they will also likely reiterate support for what he represents to them '€” the promise of a clean and humane Indonesia '€” which entails the struggle to fight off powers that disregard such aims.

We join them in urging President Jokowi not to lose the support of the millions who see no choice but to place their hopes in him.