According to a number of polls on next year's presidential candidate, Joko Widodo is unchallenged. Theoretically, Jakarta's governor would win the election if held today. The former Solo mayor even upstaged PDI-P chairperson, Megawati Soekarnoputri, who actually nominated him to run in Jakarta's gubernatorial race last year.
Yet Jokowi himself announced that he has given no thought to running for the country's top job. He recently spoke to Tempo reporters Widiarsi Agustina, Bagja Hidayat and Sutji Decilya at his office, although he avoided the question of his candidacy. Excerpts:
Survey results show that people hope you will think of more than just Jakarta.
How should I answer that? The reality is that I am working hard to manage Jakarta. I know my place.
You seem to be trying to avoid discussing the 2014 elections.
They are still a long way off. And everything will depend on the legislative elections. I'm confused when people nominate candidates now. Aren't they doing the calculations? What if they don't have enough support. A person goes all the way then finds him/herself not nominated after all. Then what? I say, let's not hurry to become a candidate who will not be nominated.
According to surveys, the PDI-P vote will really be helped by nominating Jokowi.
Look, I know myself. As a cadre, I will comply with the party's decision, made at the Bali Congress in 2010 which placed it in the hands of the chairperson. So, please ask Ibu Mega.
You have been approached by many leaders? Who are they?
There are many of them, but I don't feel good about naming them. First they spoke about Jakarta, but at the end of discussion all they wanted to speak about was 2014. My answer is always the same: regarding 2014, I leave it to the party and the chairperson. Please ask them. I am focusing on my work. Why are people provoking me continuously?
What specific task are you doing in Jakarta?
In principle, a major part of the basic program has been executed, especially programs that were planned decades ago. For example, the MRT, the monorail and public space. What still needs to be done is social development, making the citizens aware of the need to build a new culture. That is why public space is needed to build public interaction so urban cohesion can grow and people will feel that they own it.
Many people say Jakarta is just a warm-up session for Jokowi to enter the palace.
Warm-up? Jakarta is full of hot issues. It's there that a leader must be in control of the battlefield, design policies and listen to what the citizens want. If I sat behind my desk all the time, I wouldn't understand what the people want. I don't care what people are saying, I just want to do all I can.
The complete interview is available in this week's edition of Tempo English.
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