Leading through fun: Jokowi leads a parade of traditional Javanese opera players along Surakarta’s main street to commemorate the city’s 267th anniversary in this file photo from 2011. During his seven-year tenure as the city’s mayor, before taking up the job of Jakarta governor in 2012, Jokowi turned the terrorist-infested city into a popular international convention, and Javanese cultural, center.

Reportage News

• The battle for second term
• Poor stagnate while city thrives
• Unresolved decentralization causes public services to suffer

While Jakarta Governor Joko “Jokowi” Widodo remains silent over the unabated calls for his nomination as a presidential candidate in the 2014 election, the euphoria over his achievements and leadership style, widely perceived as representative of the grass roots, have been seen by political elites as precursors that would herald him to the presidency. This is the first of a three-page report on Jokowi’s political journey. In this report, The Jakarta Post’s Sita W. Dewi and Kusumasari Ayuningtyas dig deeper into Jokowi’s rise as Surakarta mayor between 2005 and 2012.

Jokowi, 52, made a leap of faith last year to pursue a more promising political career as Jakarta governor by leaving his job as mayor of Surakarta, a small and relatively poor city in Central Java, three years before his second term was due to end.

 

Jokowi’s star appeal: Making hay while sun shines | The Jakarta Post