TheJakartaPost
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I am the president of all Indonesian people: Jokowi
In an interview with The Jakarta Post, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo discussed his plan for his final term and reconciliation with rivals after the divisive election season.
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Let’s get focused: President Joko (The Jakarta Post/Wienda Parwitasari)
I
em>In an interview with The Jakarta Post, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo discussed his plan for his final term and reconciliation with rivals after the divisive election season. The following are excerpts from the interview with the Post’s Taufiq Rahman, Sita W. Dewi and Marguerite Afra Sapiie.
Question: Are there plans for reconciliation to diffuse postelection tensions?
Answer: Citizens have returned to their normal lives. We must respect our differences in [political] choices and dissent is a natural thing in a democracy.
We cannot let differences disturb our brotherhood, our unity and harmony […]. We have to return to our normal lives and the political elites should get together to encourage the citizens to continue working to build and develop the country.
Your rival Prabowo Subianto won the majority of the vote in several provinces; will there be special concerns for these regions?
It’s usual in a democracy to gain more votes in certain regions and lose some in others [laugh]. However, [I am] the president of all Indonesian people, regardless of the regions where [I] won or lost […].
I ran in two mayoral elections [in Surakarta, Central Java], one gubernatorial election [in Jakarta] — with two rounds of voting — and two presidential elections, so in total [I participated] in elections six times. It’s normal [to win some and lose some].
