TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Jokowi snubs journalists for first time as President
Once a media darling, President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo surprisingly turned his back on journalists who went all the way to Ciawi, West Java, to seek his comments on the latest political and economic developments in Indonesia
Change Size
O
nce a media darling, President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo surprisingly turned his back on journalists who went all the way to Ciawi, West Java, to seek his comments on the latest political and economic developments in Indonesia.
On Tuesday, Jokowi opened a new campus belonging to state-run port firm PT Pelindo in Ciawi, but he refused to speak to the waiting reporters, whose trip preparations were arranged by the State Palace's Press Bureau.
The bureau had also arranged a question-and-answer session between Jokowi and the press corps, but the President had a different idea.
"Go talk to the ministers," Jokowi said in flat voice to more than 20 reporters after his one-hour walk around the campus, pointing to State-Owned Enterprises Minister Rini Soemarno and Coordinating Economic Minister Sofyan Djalil.
The President, however, was seen to be in no hurry or in the middle of a tight schedule, as afterwards he spent time chatting and joking with PT Pelindo chairman RJ Lino, House of Representatives Speaker Setya Novanto and the People's Consultative Assembly Speaker Zulkifli Hasan.
After sharing a light moment with them for around 10 minutes, Jokowi then went into his presidential car and left the campus.
Reporters at the State Palace said this was the first time Jokowi -- who was known for his friendly attitude toward journalists during his tenures as a local leader in Jakarta and Surakarta, Central Java -- refused to talk to the press corps after a ceremonial event.
"Our efforts to come all the way here are worthless," said one television reporter, who embarked from Jakarta at 6 a.m. to cover Jokowi's event in Ciawi, which is located more than 40 kilometers from the capital.
"We hope our journalist friends do not get too disheartened by this," said one Cabinet Secretariat official, as he tried to cheer up the disappointed journalists.
Jokowi is now facing declining popularity because of his weak leadership in the handling of the rift between the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) and the National Police and calls have been mounting for the President to reshuffle his ministers to respond to the slowing economy and the sluggish realization of his campaign promises. (++++)
