How a leader of 270 million people keeps the common touch

Jakarta: The footpaths are lined with livestock as President Joko Widodo arrives at a traditional market in Palmerah, a central district in the sprawling, sweaty Indonesian capital. It is just days before the Eid al-Adha festival – the Feast of Sacrifice – one of the main holidays on the Muslim calendar.

“[I’m here] to check the price, the distribution of the food, so I know, for example, [if] the rice went up or went down, it’s very important to know the inflation,” said Widodo, known as Jokowi, as he surveys stalls of chicken, fish, fruit and vegetables to a rapturous reception.

“I first check the price ... second, I can meet with the people and I know what they need and I know what they want.”

Decked out in his usual informal garb – a white, button-up shirt, untucked with the sleeves up, black pants and black and white trainers – the 62-year-old Indonesian leader has invited this masthead to join him on his half-hour lap of the market just days before his first visit to Australia in three years.

It’s a major production, with a security detail and entourage ushering him through the packed produce hub, but Widodo mixes comfortably with captivated vendors and other onlookers, handing out cards representing 1.2 million rupiah ($120) in government pandemic recovery support.

A former furniture salesman in his home city of Solo, Central Java, it’s clear he has retained the common touch that helped lift him to the mayor’s job there, the governorship of Jakarta and then the presidency itself nine years ago.

The hands-on approach – he says he visits a market like this two or three times a week – is reflected in his popularity, which sits at 75 per cent, according to the latest opinion polls.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo greets people at Pal Merah traditional market, in Jakarta.Credit: Jefri Tarigan

But Widodo’s focus extends well beyond Jakarta itself.

His attention as president has been concentrated on infrastructure development and attracting foreign investment as he has attempted to set Indonesia – the fourth most populous country on the planet – on the path to eventually becoming the world’s fourth-largest economy as well.

At the heart of his vision is the $51 billion relocation of the capital from the metropolis of more than 10 million that is clogged, polluted and sinking by 12 centimetres a year due to groundwater extraction to a patch of land at the edge of a rainforest in East Kalimantan province, on the island of Borneo. A future green, smart city, it is to be called Nusantara, which means archipelago.

The new Presidential Palace is being built in Nusantara, East Kalimantan province.Credit: Bloomberg

Widodo said the new capital, which he hopes will be inaugurated on Indonesia’s Independence Day in August next year with the completion of government buildings, would not be his legacy but “the legacy of the people of Indonesia”.

“In Jakarta, every day we have traffic jams and then pollution is very high ... [and] floods,” Widodo said in an exclusive interview.

“Our first president [Sukarno] had the idea to move from Jakarta to Kalimantan. The development of Nusantara is to ensure equality, so prosperity can be enjoyed equally in all Indonesian territories. Can you imagine, Indonesia has 17,000 islands but currently 58 per cent of the GDP economy is centred on Java, especially in Jakarta? Fifty-six per cent of the population reside also in Java from the 280 million population.”

With such a strong emphasis on domestic growth, Widodo has been hesitant to delve too deeply into affairs beyond Indonesia’s vast borders during much of his near decade as president.

More recently, the combination of Indonesia’s presidency of the G20 last year, Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine, rising competition between the United States and China and Indonesia’s leadership of ASEAN has led him to have a greater voice in the global arena.

President Joko Widodo, right, met with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky last year.Credit: AP

Non-aligned Indonesia was criticised for not taking a tougher stance against Russia over its invasion of February 2022 and the conflict it has since waged. Instead, Widodo has attempted to play peacemaker, so far to no avail.

“Last year I went to Kyiv in Ukraine, I met with President [Volodymyr] Zelensky. I discussed [the war for] more than 2 ½ hours with him,” Widodo said. “After that, I went to Moscow and I met President Putin. I discussed it for more than three hours with him. But it is a complicated issue, it’s not easy.

“In various opportunities including at the G7 summit in Hiroshima last month, I have conveyed that Indonesia stands ready to be a bridge builder for peace between Russia and Ukraine. But once again, it is not easy. The war has been ongoing for too long. Many people have fallen victims. It is now time for the war to stop.”

Back at home, there was a push beginning last year from political supporters of Widodo for him to continue beyond the constitutional limit of two five-year terms, the second of which is due to wind up in October 2024, with several figures in government suggesting the election of a new president next February be delayed.

That drew concerns about Indonesia’s hard-won democracy being tainted, a quarter of a century after the fall of Suharto’s New Order and “reformasi”.

The man himself, though, has maintained he has no intentions to carry on after next year.

“It’s more than enough. I will be back to my city Solo as a common person.”Credit: Jefri Tarrigan

There may be a family political dynasty in the works with Widodo’s son and son-in-law already entrenched in office themselves, as mayors of the cities of Solo and Medan respectively and his other son tipped to run for the same post in Depok, West Java.

But as he rounded his circuit of the Palmerah market, with crowds pinned to the fence outside to catch a glimpse of him, the president said he would happily resume life as an everyday Indonesian when his time was up.

“I have been in politics almost 20 years as mayor of Solo [for] two terms, as governor of Jakarta [for] two years, and becoming president for 10 years,” Widodo said.

“It’s more than enough. I will be back to my city Solo as a common person.”

- with Karuni Rompies

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