W

hen he was still Jakarta governor, President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo promised he would visit City Hall often. But it never crossed my mind that it would be this often.

Of course, the State Palace where he now lives is just five minutes away, but at times like this, while
he is the President of our country, he certainly has a packed schedule and many urgent matters that need his immediate attention. Impromptu visits do not seem like one of his priorities.

Apparently, Jokowi begs to differ. On a Friday night in early January there he was. He said he needed to visit City Hall'€™s dentist to get his teeth checked, though it was not clear what exactly the problem was.

I, like many others, find it hard to believe that the State Palace does not have the best dentist in
the country to take care of the President'€™s teeth.

I think the visit was just an excuse to meet Jakarta Governor Basuki '€œAhok'€ Tjahaja Purnama, who has become one of his most trusted confidants over the past two years. That night, he spent about an hour visiting City Hall and even made time to see his former office, which now belongs to Ahok.

Then, a week later, also on Friday, he showed up again. Again with the same excuse, but this time did not stay as long as he did during the first trip. And then, in less than a week, this time on a Monday, he came over again, with the same reason as before '€” meeting the dentist.

Curious, I could not help asking him whether the Palace does not have its own dentist. Casually, he replied that '€œthe [City Hall] dentist is also our dentist'€, before adding '€œI miss the governor.'€

But we can always speculate, right? It'€™s much more fun anyway.

Whether by coincidence or not, controversial decisions or announcements usually came right after Jokowi'€™s visits to City Hall. Well, at least after the first two visits.

After the first visit, a letter proposing Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan as the sole candidate for the next National Police chief to the House of Representatives was leaked. Just a few days after, the antigraft body named Budi a suspect in a corruption case.

A few hours after his second visit, Jokowi announced the dismissal of then National Police chief Gen. Sutarman and appointed the deputy National Police chief Comr. Gen. Badrodin Haiti as the acting chief.

I wasn'€™t the only one speculating. A colleague of mine even assumed that Jokowi made his trip to City Hall because he was planning something that could only be discussed in a City Hall room that was free of wiretaps.

But conspiracy theories aside, I'€™m sure that he was probably just missing the good old days when serving as the city'€™s governor, when the worst problems he ever faced were related to floods, traffic or squatters.

During his third impromptu visit to City Hall, he even joked about taking us to his favorite seafood restaurant in North Jakarta.

Just several months ago, as a governor, he spent most of his time outside of his office, greeting residents, who would rush to his side, take a selfie and shake his hand.

Or maybe he just loved to be outdoors since his air-conditioned office at City Hall was too cold so he enjoyed walking in City Hall'€™s garden, observing the lush ornamental plants and continue walking to the main street before suddenly jumping into a bajaj (three-wheeled taxi) while laughing out loud at the surprise of his personal guards.

With these recent night trips to City Hall, he'€™s probably just missing the good old days when he could leave piles of documents on his desk, visit Waduk Pluit Park in North Jakarta and meet residents in the park popularly known as TamJok, short for Taman Jokowi or Jokowi'€™s Park, where he would get rock star treatment.

Then he could go to his favorite Medan Baru restaurant and enjoy his favorite dish, gulai kepala kakap (snapper head curry). The good old days.