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One year on: Jokowi's unexpected achievement: Taming the House
When President Joko âJokowiâ Widodo announced his Cabinet on Oct
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hen President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo announced his Cabinet on Oct. 26 last year, six days after his inauguration as the country's seventh president, many of his opponents, especially from the opposition majority, the Red and White Coalition (KMP), jeered the new leader, saying that Jokowi would only become the puppet of Megawati Soekarnoputri and the ruling Great Indonesia Coalition (KIH).
The chairwoman of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), who had been the country's fifth president, was feared to be dictating to Jokowi because it was her party that nominated Jokowi for the position of president and, earlier in 2012, to be governor of Jakarta.
The sceptical prediction had strong grounds. Jokowi does not have a political power base. His predecessor Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono continued to be bullied by his own coalition members even though he was the founder of the Democratic Party.
The PDI-P kept pressing Jokowi in the first half-year of his government and often threatened to withdraw their support from his administration. As a new figure on the national political stage, Jokowi has had weak party support during his stellar rise to the top in less than three years.
However, the opposition quickly became much weaker because of the divisive internal conflicts in the Golkar Party and the United Development Party (PPP). Although a recent verdict of the Supreme Court had legally settled the conflicts of the two political parties, in reality the Golkar Party and the PPP will remain divided between pro and anti-government parties.
Jokowi is a genius at cultivating the massive public support and trust given to him and he is very good at using his communication skills to reach out even to those who do not agree with him, including the KMP camp.
He has the ability to nurture a relatively stable and harmonious rapport with the House through strategic appointments and a style of leadership that cuts through red tape.
According to House deputy speaker Taufik Kurniawan of the National Mandate Party (PAN) ' which had only recently turned pro-government ' the President's cross-cutting style of leadership has enabled the House to warm up to their executive counterparts.
'Amidst the heat of politics, an unfavorable economic situation, the so-called global currency wars and prolonged dry weather from the El Niño effect, there is a breakthrough solution in the form of strengthened relations [between the House and the government],' Taufik told The Jakarta Post on Saturday
In a break from tradition, both the House and the State Palace have suddenly found themselves in an amicable position to work for the betterment of nation and country.
Taufik lauded Jokowi's straightforward leadership style as a suitable strategy to weather the economic storm and provide political stability to ensure investor confidence.
'[Indonesia's] situation is unpredictable, whether in politics, the economy or culturally ' we can no longer abide by textbook solutions. [Jokowi's] cross-cutting style and willingness to break with protocol is good,' Taufik explained.
The House has so far been supportive of the government's policies, owing to Jokowi's directness and what House deputy speaker Taufik cites as putting forward 'communications as part of the solution'.
The placement of one of Jokowi's closest allies, Luhut B. Panjaitan, as the new Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister helped to boost communications with the House.
Political analyst Hanta Yuda said that Jokowi could take advantage of PAN's entry into government as a means to set up an 'alternative locus of power when both the KIH and the KMP were at odds with his policies or decisions, cherry-picking his allies as he goes'.
The Poltracking Indonesia executive director said that Jokowi should maintain this tripolar balance between the State Palace, the ruling coalition and the opposition as it had brought him ample support from legislators, which is a feat rarely achieved, even by the Yudhoyono presidency.
'There is currently no locus of power that is outside of the President's control,' Hanta noted.
'The President has the means to leverage his authority against the political parties, whether through budgetary politics or other policies,' he added.
