In August, the words “urgent warning” excited demonstrators in Indonesia. It was a cry to protect the world’s third-largest democracy, which emerged from a dictatorship 30 years ago. Thousands of protesters took to the streets. Some stormed the gates of the Capitol and vandalized it in a fit of rage.
The threat, as they saw it, came from their chosen leader, President Joko Widodo.
Mr Joko Widodo, who resigned on Sunday, transformed Indonesia during his two terms in office, virtually eradicating extreme poverty from the vast archipelago, home to about 280 million people. But many believe that the very democracy that enabled him to become the country’s first president not from the military or long-standing political elite, in part because he sought to bend the law to establish a political dynasty, I believe he was trying to harm the.
Critics say last year that Mr. Joko, widely known to Indonesians as Jokowi, engineered a Constitutional Court ruling that allowed his 36-year-old son to run for vice president. His son, Gibran Rakabumin Raka, was elected to succeed Joko in February alongside Prabowo Subianto, a former defense minister and general implicated in human rights abuses.
In August, Mr Widodo’s allies attempted a new maneuver to get his 29-year-old son Kesan Pangarep on the ballot for political office. Furious Indonesians saw this as another change in direction for Mr. Widodo, who once declared that “being president does not mean handing power to children.”
Thousands of demonstrators gathered outside the parliament building and constitutional court in the capital Jakarta. Mr Joko came under a very personal attack, with social media users taunting him using his real name, Muryono. (Mr. Joko was a sickly child whose parents changed his name in hopes of improving his health. Calling him Muryono was like casting a spell.)
Nevertheless, Joko Widodo left office with an approval rating of 75%. Millions of Indonesians believe that he connected with ordinary people and brought about significant and tangible progress, such as building highways and bridges, introducing universal healthcare, and distributing cash and food to the poor. He is said to have been the only president to have
“What was so refreshing was that he was so happy to break taboos. Unfortunately, in the second term it became a bad habit of breaking norms,” Joko once said. said Thomas Lembong, who was trade minister and chief speechwriter under .
Lawmakers finally gave in to protesters’ demands in August and abandoned Khe Sanh’s candidacy. For many, it was clear what Mr. Joko was trying to do.
“This is not authoritarianism 1.0, where you kill your enemies and kidnap your opponents,” said Yoes Kenawas, a postdoctoral researcher at Atma Jaya Catholic University in Indonesia. “Authoritarianism 2.0 sounds democratic in some ways because it operates within a legal framework, but it is not really democratic.”
A representative for Mr. Joko said he was unavailable for an interview. But Mr Joko has repeatedly defended himself. “They are all chosen by the people, decided by the people and voted for by the people,” he told reporters after Mr Gibran joined Mr Prabowo’s ticket last year. “It’s not us, it’s not the elites, it’s not the party. That’s democracy.”
Mr. Joko has long been the antithesis of Indonesia’s typical leadership, which was run for decades by the authoritarian Mr. Sukarno and then Mr. Suharto. (Like many Indonesians, they went by the same name.) Democracy was established after Suharto’s ouster in 1998, but politicians from prominent families dominated the ballot box.
Quiet and reserved, Mr. Joko was born in a riverside slum in the city of Solo. He became a successful businessman in the export of furniture and was elected governor of Jakarta in 2012. Two years later, he was elected president and turned national politics upside down.
Mr. Joko gives a simple, humble face to power, and even his loudest critics acknowledge that Mr. Joko has an innate understanding of what ordinary people want. are. He made unannounced visits (known as brusukan) to markets and shopping malls across Indonesia. He was obsessed with controlling inflation, and was able to bring down the prices of basic goods by a ton. In a 2022 interview with the New York Times, he spoke more passionately about Chilean prices than foreign policy.
Dwi Lestari, 36, a housewife living in Yogyakarta, said, “Jokowi really cares about the poor, and I really feel that,” adding that the government provided cash and food. . Her family is now receiving free medical attention. She said she used to self-medicate because doctors’ fees were too expensive.
Under Mr. Joko Widodo, Indonesia became Southeast Asia’s first $1 trillion economy, but it relied heavily on government spending and left state-owned enterprises in debt. He sought to create an industry that would use Indonesia’s nickel mining capacity to make batteries for electric cars, an effort some see as resource nationalism. And he has set aside $30 billion to build a new capital on the Indonesian island of Borneo, a project that has been criticized for its huge costs and environmental risks.
Prabowo inherits all these challenges and will have to make difficult choices given the country’s budget deficit. (His campaign promises included a free school lunch program.)
Joko played a key role in Prabowo’s rise. The former general, who was once Mr Suharto’s son-in-law, carried out brutal military operations in East Timor, then part of Indonesia, and was found responsible for the kidnapping of democratic activists, but he twice won the presidential election by Joko Widodo. I lost to Mr.
However, in 2019, during his second term, Joko appointed Prabowo as defense minister. The support for his disgraced opponent was a sign of the lengths to which Mr. Widodo is willing to maintain a coalition in parliament that allows him to advance his economic policies.
About a month earlier, protests had erupted over Mr. Widodo’s plans to undermine the respected anti-corruption commission. During his term, the government arrested activists who criticized the government, including those from the Papua region seeking independence from Indonesia. Mr. Joko never reined in the police, who were rarely held accountable for their brutal tactics, even after they caused one of the worst sporting tragedies in recent history.
Mr Joko Widodo’s allies have floated the idea of a third term for him, but Indonesia’s constitution prohibits this. Mr. Joko Widodo retracted the proposal after sensing public backlash. Instead, he focused on establishing a dynasty, which he had disavowed early in his presidency.
“The last two years of power grabs have been very individualistic,” said Sana Jaffrey, a research fellow at the Australian National University’s Indonesia Research Institute.
Last October, when Gibran was 35 years old, the Constitutional Court amended the law to require vice presidential candidates to be at least 40 years old. The decisive vote in the 5-4 ruling was given by Chief Justice Anwar Usman, an appointee of Mr. Gibran. Mr. Joko later married the president’s sister. A few days later, the Ethics Commission removed Mr. Anwar from his post due to conflict of interest, but the commission was unable to overturn the court’s decision.
Later, Mr. Gibran also joined Mr. Prabowo’s ticket. For Mr. Widodo’s millions of supporters, it was clear who the president was supporting in an election that Mr. Prabowo won despite his dark history.
The protests in August began after Mr. Widodo pushed for a change in the law to allow candidates under 30, like his second son Mr. Kesang, to run in local elections scheduled for next month.
Renowned actor Reza Rahadian was among those who criticized Joko at the demonstration. “This is not a country owned by any one family,” he said. “It’s shocking to see that there are provisions in the law that only change for certain families.”
In a televised address that night, Mr. Widodo said parliamentary deliberations on the proposal were part of the government’s standard “checks and balances.” “We respect the authority and decisions of each state agency.”
The next day, parliament announced it had suspended electoral law reforms, a rare case in which the government has given in to protesters’ demands.
It is unclear how much influence Mr. Widodo will exercise over Mr. Prabowo after the presidential transition. But as vice president, Mr. Gibran will have a national base that will allow him to take the top job.
Over the past few weeks, Mr Joko has visited markets across Indonesia as part of his farewell tour. Earlier this month, he was in East Nusa Tenggara province. “I would like to deeply apologize for all the mistakes and policies that may not have pleased everyone,” he said, wearing his trademark white shirt with the sleeves rolled up.
Joko added: “I’m a normal human being, full of mistakes, flaws and mistakes.”
Hasya Nindita contributed reporting.
