His visits to predominantly Christian provinces like East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), Papua and North Sumatra show how the people trust him as a leader who will protect their rights as citizens of Indonesia. Of course, they are naïve for thinking so.

For many Christians and members of other minority religious groups in the country, the late fourth president Abdurrahman “Gus Dur” Wahid was their most respected leader, because he was in the vanguard of protection of the rights of minorities, not just in terms of religion but also ethnicity and race. Unfortunately, Gus Dur’s presidency only lasted two years, because in July 2001 he was impeached and replaced by his deputy, Megawati Soekarnoputri, who governed until October 2004.

Unlike Gus Dur, Jokowi has rarely talked aloud about defending non-Muslims, because he has often been the target of attacks from Muslim hardliners. To his detractors, Jokowi is not seen as a true Muslim – some even going so far as to label him a communist.

But people in minority groups can sense that Jokowi is their leader and Bapak (father) of all.

His body language and attentive attitude when meeting with ordinary people is a strong magnet for many, although as a politician he can never be free from manipulative tendencies.

As in the biblical story, thousands of Batak ethnic people stood along the roads to greet Jokowi, who was on a three-day visit to Lake Toba in North Sumatra earlier this month. No one asked them to gather under the broiling sun for hours. Many, if not most of them, were Christians who welcomed their Javanese and Muslim leader.

The President, as always, told his security detail to let the people get closer to him, while adhering to COVID-19 health protocols.

For the third time since COVID-19 wreaked havoc on the country early last year, people in a predominantly Christian province defied the danger of the rampaging pandemic just to see Jokowi in person, and, if possible, get a chance for a selfie with their leader.

Opposition leaders and medical experts have criticized the President for what they regard as a blatant breach of the government’s own mobility restrictions.

Coincidently or not, the number of infections did not rise after the President left North Sumatra, Papua or NTT. If you ask the people there, I guess they would answer like this, Jesus Christ always protects the President and the people he visits!

A Catholic priest likened Jokowi’s recent visit to North Sumatra to Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem ahead of his crucifixion. Chanting “Hosana the son of David”, thousands of people gave Jesus a royal welcome, but five days later the same people shouted “Crucify him!”

People near Lake Toba chanted, “Viva Pak Jokowi, our beloved President!”

“Pak Jokowi is much luckier than Jesus. People here will always see him as a hero for minorities,” the priest said. “They even demanded the President lead them beyond his second five-year term.”

Enthusiastic people in the regencies of North Tapanuli, Humbang Hasundutan, Tobasa, Simalungun, Samosir, Dairi and Karo, gave Jokowi a “red carpet” reception.

Regents of the territories had fought one another to win the President’s acceptance of an invitation. Simalungun Regent Radiapoh Sinaga was happy to accompany Jokowi during his visit to Parapat, to the displeasure of people from nearby regencies. Parapat is located close to other regencies around Lake Toba.

The President fulfilled his promise to meet with the farmers of Liang Melas Datas village in Karo regency after a representative of the region’s farming community gave Jokowi 3 tons of oranges at the State Palace last December. The orange farmers came to Jakarta to beg the President to repair the roads to their villages, which had not been fixed for more than 30 years.

Jokowi’s die-hard followers use social media platforms such as Facebook and WhatsApp to tell their friends how the people love their President and how he loves them too. The citizen journalists are excited about their reports, which escape the attention of mainstream media like TV and newspapers.

In February last year, thousands of people in Maumere, Sikka regency, NTT, cheered on the President who arrived to inaugurate the Napun Gete dam. They were waiting for hours until Jokowi passed and waved to the crowds from his open-top car. Several times the President alighted from the car and walked among the people to give them gifts. A nun shouted his name and the President came to her to listen to her grievance about the orphanage that she manages.

The President also went to Jayapura in October 2021 to open the 20th National Games (PON). In its editorial, The Jakarta Post called on the President to postpone the sports event until the pandemic had subsided.

“It will be the Papuan leaders and people who will have to bear the brunt of all consequences if Jakarta insists the show must go on,” the editorial wrote.

The President decided to let PON go ahead for a variety of reasons, including to give an opportunity to the Papuan people to proudly host a national sports event, a luxury that has eluded many other regions.

Jokowi had visited NTT at least 10 times by May 2019, according to the President himself. “I have visited this province 10 times. Because I love NTT,” he said.

His visits to predominantly Christian North Sulawesi and the predominantly Hindu province of Bali have also shown a similar tendency. Jokowi is deemed a savior to them, regardless of what the President has done to protect their freedom of religion.

 ***

The writer is a senior editor of The Jakarta Post.