“He is turning into the new Suharto,” one senior official said, pointing to the “disciplined and calm calculation” that followed the July government reshuffle, which saw Widodo hand over positions to parties across the political spectrum.
Presidential spokesman Johan Budi said Widodo was “not yet pondering” concerning the 2019 elections. “The focus is on this period and working for the well-being of the people,” Budi said.
Analysts say Widodo’s political maneuvering likely means he will probably be less willing to make radical changes to Southeast Asia’s largest economy, whose overdependence on raw material exports has been painfully exposed by the recent collapse in commodity prices.
This was not within the script when a former furniture salesman who grew up in a riverside slum in Central Java won the presidency.
Widodo, the primary leader of recent Indonesia who didn’t come from the military or political elite, was widely expected to shake up the establishment. Supporters said it might root out corruption, promote people based on merit quite than connections, and create an environment for investment to flow right into a stagnant economy.
“Instead of changing the rules of the game, as he promised voters, Jokowi began to master the game,” said Aaron Connelly, a research fellow on the Lowy Institute for International Affairs in Sydney.
Marcus Mietzner, an associate professor on the College of Asia and the Pacific on the Australian National University, added: “He has – unfortunately but rightly – determined for himself that these issues won’t win or lose the election, so he ignores them.”
Instead of fixing the sport, as he promised voters, Jokowi began to master it
Aides said Widodo had difficulty taking office because he didn’t have the parliamentary majority to push through reforms and since he was held back by former president Megawati Sukarnoputri, the dominant head of his political party, the Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P).
They say the 55-year-old president is difficult to read, but after several clashes with Megawati, it was clear that he had decided to place PDI-P back on its feet and gain the support of other parties.
The breakthrough in his profession got here in January this yr, when the second largest party within the country, Golkar, with nearly 15 percent. seats in parliament, agreed to support Widodo’s coalition.
In last month’s election, he brought several parties together, cementing the support of about two-thirds of parliament members and ensuring that his political survival would not rely on a single party.
“Each of these parties presented their own agenda to Jokowi, but he also made sure he got what he needed from them,” said Eva Kusuma Sundari, a senior lawyer for PDI-P.
After greater than a yr of being undermined by ministers speaking out of turn and for contradictory purposes, there was little question that Widodo was confirming his control with the most recent reshuffle.
From now on, ministers won’t give you the chance to have their very own “vision and mission”, he told his latest team after the inauguration. “I will never have to act alone again.”
The senior official said that with a recent public opinion poll showing the president’s public support at 68%, the best since he took office, and with such strong cross-party support, he can now pursue difficult economic reforms comparable to opening as much as long-protected industries.
But analysts say that after almost two years, it remains to be unclear whether Widodo favors a free market or protectionism because his policies are so inconsistent.
“It’s very much touching the edges, so when people use reform-like language, I don’t think that’s appropriate,” said Matthew Busch, an economic and investment consultant in Indonesia.
Aides say Widodo has no grand vision for Indonesia but a employees’ desire to make it higher, which is why he focuses on stability and infrastructure development and sometimes micromanages processes.
Mietzner, of the Australian National University, said Widodo’s appointment within the wake of the reshuffle of controversial former general Wiranto as his security chief is evidence that political considerations come first.
Wiranto, army chief when President Suharto resigned amid protests in 1998, was indicted by a UN panel over the bloodshed surrounding East Timor’s independence vote in 1999. The former general has denied any irregularities in East Timor.
“There was no strong reason to appoint Wiranto, and yet he chose to do so because the move fit his cabinet’s calculations,” Mietzner said. “He just doesn’t care enough about human rights issues to find Wiranto’s election problematic.”
