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Assessing first two years of Jokowi’s rule
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New facility: President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo speaks at the inauguration of the newly built Tanjung Api Tojo Una-una Airport in Ampena, Miangas, North Sulawesi, on Wednesday. Jokowi completes two years in office on Thursday. (Courtesy of Presidential Office/Rusman)
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ontrary to what his detractors claimed during the 2014 presidential election campaign, that then Jakarta governor Joko “Jokowi” Widodo was a political novice, President Jokowi has turned out to be a smart, if not wily, political heavyweight.
After only two years in office as president, Jokowi has managed to outmaneuver some of the most entrenched political interests in the capital, at times by offering a quid pro quo that they could not resist.
Golkar, one of the most powerful political parties in the country, has now been firmly lined up behind him. The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) continues to be under the control of its matriarch Megawati Soekarnoputri, but as the nomination of Basuki Tjahaja “Ahok” Purnama has shown, the nation’s biggest political party has to play the game according to his terms.
He has managed to build a large enough political coalition to make it easy for him to push through several of his programs at the House of Representatives.
And if the appointment of Ignasius Jonan as Energy and Mineral Resources Minister and Arcandra Tahar as his deputy tells us anything, it is that Jokowi can play off one player against another masterfully.
But Jokowi will not be judged on that accomplishment. He will be judged on whether he fulfils his campaign promises of promoting economic growth, building infrastructure, balancing the budget, protecting the country’s national interests (including how to deal with the rise of China) and solving past human rights abuses.
After a disappointing first year, Jokowi has started to make inroads.
When it cut the fuel subsidies, the government said it would reallocate Rp 211.3 trillion (US$16.3 billion) from the subsidies to other programs, with the largest chunk going to infrastructure. Having focused infrastructure development on Java, Jokowi has now set his target on connecting the island of Sumatra.
After much scepticism, Jokowi’s tax amnesty got off to a flying start, having so far met 60 percent of the government’s $12.7 billion revenue target for year-end.
But in spite of these successes, many still remain out of reach especially on the human rights issue, as harassment of minority groups has continued to make headlines while Jokowi has dithered.
