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"I started from the bottom, there's no one like me": President Jokowi
In a speech delivered to members of the Indonesian Association of Civil Servants (Korpri), Jokowi said that his firsthand knowledge on how local government works helped him create effective policies while solidifying the cabinet.
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President Joko “Jokowi“ Widodo inaugurated the US$7.3 billion Whoosh high-speed railway on Oct. 2, 2023, in Jakarta. The 142-kilometer railway, which connects Jakarta to Bandung, has faced multiple delays since its original target to start operations in 2019. (State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) Ministry/-)
P
resident Joko "Jokowi" Widodo said on Tuesday that his stint as a local government leader helped blaze a trail in the country's political landscape and that the experience helped him craft and deliver development programs over the past nine years.
In a speech delivered to members of the Indonesian Association of Civil Servants (Korpri), Jokowi said that his firsthand knowledge on how local government works helped him create effective policies while solidifying the cabinet.
"I served as mayor twice, and then governor and president, also twice. There has never been an example like that, starting from the bottom. So, I have firsthand experience of what it was like on the ground," Jokowi said in his remarks.
Jokowi said that in the past nine years he has used the knowledge gained from his experience to produce interdepartmental policies that have contributed to solidifying the cabinet.
"What I always told these officials, whether they design a state budget or a local budget, don't come up with too many programs. Don't spread it out among agencies, just three programs but make sure they work," the former mayor of Surakarta, Central Java, said.
Jokowi served his seven-year tenure as the mayor of Surakarta before taking up the job of Jakarta governor in 2012, during which time he turned Central Java’s second largest city from a safe haven for terrorists into a popular international destination showcasing Javanese culture.
