The decision of the United States Centers of Disease Control and Prevention to include Indonesia in the Level 1 or Low Level of COVID-19 on Oct. 26 is powerful working capital for President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo in the Group of 20 and United Nations climate change (COP26) summits. The world is surprised by the ability of Indonesia to control, at least for a while, the pandemic within a few months after the second wave of the pandemic raged in July.

Hopefully, it will also mean that Indonesia, as well as other countries, will get easier access to supplies of vaccines and medication. For me, what is good about the President is he always gives a priority to concrete economic results, unlike his predecessors who were often trapped by the euphoria of “fake” global acknowledgment of Indonesia before realizing the country did not get anything tangible.

Apart from his successful pandemic handling strategy, Jokowi emulates the strategy of the second president, Soeharto, in strengthening his bargaining position in international negotiations, while at the same time fortifying his power base at home ahead of the two key summits.

The President decided to punish Myanmar’s junta leader Min Aung Hlaing for the latter’s defiance of the former’s initiative to restore democracy in the impoverished nation. Previously, Jokowi unilaterally terminated a US$1 billion emission reduction deal with Norway. His two drastic decisions reminded me of Soeharto’s favorite strategy in facing much stronger forces.

For the first time since he assumed power in 2014, Jokowi participated and took a leading role in three global summits, which took place within just a week. He evidently enjoyed his attendance at the G20 summit in Rome last week. He won the attention of not only world leaders, such as US President Joe Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the host, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, but also from international media.

On Oct. 31, Jokowi took over the G20 presidency from Draghi. Next year Indonesia will host the group’s summit, apparently in Bali. Past presidents, including Soeharto and Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, were active in putting Indonesia at the center of global attention, but Jokowi is luckier than them.

In September 1992, Soeharto hosted the 110-member Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) in Jakarta. In November 1994, he achieved his personal ambition to appear as a global leader by hosting the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) in Bogor.

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