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Jokowi in 'blusukan' mode in final year of presidency
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President Joko “Jokowi“ Widodo takes a selfie with residents welcoming him to Wamena, Papua, on Oct. 28, 2019. (Indonesian Presidential Palace/AFP/-)
With less than a year left in office and campaign activities for next year’s presidential election in full swing, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has made a series of visits to eastern Indonesia that critics say show an inability to keep an appropriate distance from electoral politics.
While the President is constitutionally barred from seeking reelection next year, his eldest son Gibran Rakabuming Raka is running as a vice presidential candidate alongside presidential frontrunner Prabowo Subianto, a former rival of Jokowi’s who is now portraying himself as the President’s rightful successor.
Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Jokowi dismissed suggestions that he had intentionally made visits to East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) and Papua to shadow presidential candidate Ganjar Pranowo, rival to Prabowo, who made campaign stops in the two provinces in the past week.
On Monday, days after Ganjar visited NTT, Jokowi arrived in the province and met with residents face-to-face in a political trademark of his known as a blusukan (impromptu visit). There, he pledged to disburse aid to residents who had yet to receive government support.
The President also visited Sorong regency, Papua, in late November, where he inspected rice supplies and distributed food aid from government reserves to local families. The visit came two days after Ganjar made an unofficial campaign stop in the nearby Sorong city, less than a week before the official campaign period started.
“There was no such [effort to mirror Ganjar’s campaign stops]. Any schedule for a presidential visit is made three months in advance and must serve a purpose,” Jokowi said. “It's not like [we plan these trips] a day or two before. They were planned in advance.”
Jokowi said he often received invitations from ministries asking him to attend inaugurations of their projects, such as the launch in Papua of the largest hospital in eastern Indonesia and the opening of a cathedral in Kupang, NTT, both of which he was present at. The two events, he said, had been planned three months ago.
