W

ith a rustic landscape as the backdrop, a smiling young white guy strums his guitar singing an Indonesian song lampooning corruption and hypocrisy among political elites as the '€œrevolusi mental'€ that President Joko
'€œJokowi'€ Widodo sweetly promised fails to spark.

'€œWhat'€™s the problem, mas?/ Forget morality/ Money is the religion/ The mental revolution should have happened by now/ Money is the religion/Money is the religion/ Prayer is unnecessary,'€ croons the mystery man.

Titled '€œAgama uang'€ (Money is the religion), the song is a spoof of a dangdut song '€œAku rapopo'€ (I have no hard feelings) sung by Julia Perez. '€œAku rapopo'€ is a catchphrase coined by the then presidential candidate Jokowi, who portrayed himself as a modest, forward-looking country man who accepts criticism with good grace.

 '€œAgama uang'€ says that while the ordinary people have to work long and hard to earn a living, here in Indonesia it can be easy to get rich by becoming a thief, con artist, gambler, perjurer or corrupt official. Then you can buy whatever you like, including justice.

The parody video had gone viral on social media before it was uploaded to YouTube and provoked lots of funny comments. So go see it, make use of your sense of humor and find a good reason to smile.

The video has received so much attention probably because the singer is a foreigner who cares '€” well at least he looks and sounds foreign '€” and it has appeared when demands for Jokowi to come out and start the much-awaited revolution have become stronger. Many similar parodies have been produced in the media and performed as theatrical plays.

And yet, Jokowi remains tight-lipped!

Now, while the real and virtual worlds are abuzz with people demanding Jokowi honor his election pledge, he seems to have forgotten all about it. And so have many of us voters who are tired of endless political bickering.

Having clinched the presidency, Jokowi seems now to be swamped in a sea of political entanglements that have come one after the other.

The only thing we have heard is that Jokowi recently proposed Rp 149 billion (US$ 11.5 million) to the House of Representatives to spark the revolution but the legislators were reluctant to endorse it because Coordinating Human Development and Culture Minister Puan Maharani didn'€™t provide a detailed plan.

All those political traps, some of them ironically set up by the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) '€” the very party that is his main backer '€” have left him in such a precarious position that he will be lucky to survive the next 100 days (just kidding).

Puan, one of the PDI-P'€™s top leaders, has time and again said Jokowi remains a PDI-P '€œworker'€ and therefore he must fully toe the party'€™s line. This speaks volumes as to why Jokowi seems so burdened by the moral obligation to duly serve the PDI-P and other coalition parties supporting his government.

While Jokowi is nowhere to be seen to enlighten us about what he has (or had) in mind when he set the world on fire with his revolusi mental pledge, he leaves people guessing.

What exactly does Jokowi mean by '€œrevolusi mental'€? Who are his targets, bureaucrats or ordinary people? How will it be instilled in people who have been shown to be corrupt to the core? Why is the campaign assigned to the Communications and Information Ministry instead of the education ministry?

It has been fun to observe that many of the things the Jokowi administration has been doing have miserably failed to reflect a reformed mentality in high places.

In the latest case in point, he has approved the use of taxpayers'€™ money to almost double the down-payment on luxury cars for senior members of the legislature, judiciary and state audit agency from Rp 116.6 million to Rp 211 million '€” a policy hardly consistent with his election pledge of austerity.

Neither have politicians, lawmakers, bureaucrats and law enforcers shown themselves to be role models for the citizenry. The National Police are engaged in a bitter rivalry with the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), a conflict triggered by the KPK naming a police general a graft suspect.

Lawmakers busy jockeying for positions have long forgotten their main job of defending and improving the welfare of the people they represent.

It looks like it is Jokowi, politicians, law enforcers and state officials who ought to revolutionize their mentalities in the first place.

'€” Pandaya