Joko Widodo
Joko Widodo, often known mononymously as Jokowi, is an Indonesian politician and businessman who served as the seventh president of Indonesia from 2014 to 2024. Previously a member of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, he was the country's first president not to emerge from the country's political or military elite. He was governor of Jakarta from 2012 to 2014 and mayor of Surakarta from 2005 to 2012.
Jokowi was born and raised in a riverside slum in Surakarta. He graduated from Gadjah Mada University in 1985, and married his wife, Iriana, a year later. He worked as a carpenter and a furniture exporter before being elected mayor of Surakarta in 2005. He achieved national prominence as mayor and was elected governor of Jakarta in 2012, with Basuki Tjahaja Purnama as vice governor. As governor, he reinvigorated local politics, introduced publicised blusukan visits and improved the city's bureaucracy, reducing corruption in the process. He also introduced a universal healthcare program, dredged the city's main river to reduce flooding, and inaugurated the construction of the city's subway system.
In 2014, Jokowi was nominated as the PDI-P's candidate in that year's presidential election, choosing Jusuf Kalla as his running mate. Jokowi was elected over his opponent, Prabowo Subianto, who disputed the outcome of the election, and was inaugurated on 20 October 2014. Since taking office, Jokowi has focused on economic growth and infrastructure development as well as an ambitious health and education agenda. During his presidency, there was massive infrastructure development and improvement in various parts of Indonesia, so he was nicknamed the "Father of Indonesian Infrastructure". On foreign policy, his administration has emphasised "protecting Indonesia's sovereignty," with the sinking of illegal foreign fishing vessels and the prioritising and scheduling of capital punishment for drug smugglers. The latter was despite intense representations and diplomatic protests from foreign powers, including Australia and France. He was re-elected in 2019 for a second five-year term, again defeating Prabowo Subianto.
In the 2024 presidential election, Jokowi was widely perceived by analysts and media as favouring Prabowo, who ran with his son Gibran Rakabuming Raka, and subsequently won the election. He made public appearances with the pair but issued no formal endorsement. Allegations of state resource misuse to benefit their ticket were denied by the presidential office and deemed unproven by the Constitutional Court. This strained his relationship with PDI-P, leading to his formal ousting in December 2024, months after the MK rejected all claims of electoral fraud.
Leaving office with a 75% approval rating, Jokowi left a mixed legacy. His presidency was noted for major infrastructure expansion, steady economic growth, and the broadening of social welfare programs, alongside initiatives such as relocating the national capital to Nusantara and promoting the Golden Indonesia 2045 Vision. Critics, however, pointed to democratic backsliding, weakened anti-corruption efforts, environmental impacts, and political dynasticism, particularly in his final term in office.
Early life and education
Joko Widodo was born as Mulyono at Brayat Minulya General Hospital in Surakarta, on 21 June 1961. Jokowi is of Javanese heritage. He is the only son of Widjiatno Notomihardjo and Sudjiatmi and the eldest of four siblings. His father came from Karanganyar, while his grandparents came from a village in Boyolali. His three younger sisters are Iit Sriyantini, Idayati, and Titik Relawati. Jokowi was often sick as a toddler, and his name was thus changed—a common practice in Javanese culture—to Joko Widodo, with widodo meaning "healthy" in Javanese. At the age of 12, he started working in his father's furniture workshop. Jokowi's family lived in three different rented homes during his youth, which greatly affected him. Later, he organized low income housing in Surakarta during his years as mayor of that city.Jokowi's education began at State Elementary School 111 Tirtoyoso, an ordinary public school. He continued his studies at State Junior High School 1 Surakarta. Later, he wanted to attend State Senior High School 1 Surakarta, but did not score high enough in the entrance exam. Therefore, he enrolled in the newer State Senior High School 6 in that city.
Business career
After graduating from university, Jokowi began working at PT , a state-owned firm in Aceh, Sumatra. He worked in the present-day Bener Meriah Regency between 1986 and 1988 as a supervisor of forestry and raw materials at a Sumatran pine plantation. However, Jokowi soon lost interest in the firm and returned home. He worked in his grandfather's furniture factory for a year before establishing his own company, Rakabu, whose namesake is his first child. He obtained his initial capital from a Rp 15 million investment from his father and a bank loan. The company, which mainly focused on teak furniture, nearly went bankrupt at one point but survived following an IDR 500 million loan from Perusahaan Gas Negara. By 1991, the company began exporting its products, and they were successful in international markets. The firm first established a presence in the European market in France, and it was a French customer named Bernard who gave Joko Widodo the nickname "Jokowi".By 2002, Jokowi had become the chairman of Surakarta's furniture manufacturers association. Ultimately he decided to become a politician and promote reform in his home town, Surakarta, after seeing the neat layouts of some European cities while promoting his furniture there. After becoming mayor, he also made a joint venture with politician and former lieutenant general Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, when the two founded PT Rakabu Sejahtera.
In 2018, Jokowi reported his net worth to be Rp 50.25 billion, mostly in the form of property holdings in Central Java and Jakarta.
Early political career
Mayor of Surakarta
After first joining PDI-P in 2004, Jokowi ran in the mayoral race in Surakarta in 2005 with F. X. Hadi Rudyatmo as his running mate, with the support of PDI-P and the National Awakening Party. The pair won 36.62% of the vote against the incumbent Slamet Suryanto and two other candidates. During the campaign, many questioned his background as a property and furniture businessman. However, one academic paper claimed his leadership style was successful because it established an interactive relationship with the people, through which he was able to induce people's strong faith in him. He adopted the development framework of European cities as a guide for changes in Surakarta.His notable policies as mayor include building new traditional markets and renovating existing markets, constructing a 7-km city walk with a 3-meter wide pedestrian walkway along Surakarta's main street, revitalising the Balekambang and Sriwedari parks, employing stricter regulations on cutting down trees along the city's main streets, rebranding the city as a centre of Javanese culture and tourism under the tagline "The Spirit of Java", promoting the city as a centre for meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions, launching healthcare and education insurance program for all residents, a local bus rapid transit system named Batik Solo Trans and a Solo Techno Park, which helped support the Esemka Indonesian car project.
It was during his tenure as mayor that he conducted the blusukan, an impromptu visit to specific areas to listen to people's issues, which proved popular later in his political career. He also prohibited his family members from bidding for city projects, therefore suppressing the risk of corruption. His policies brought him into conflict with then provincial governor Bibit Waluyo, who on one occasion called Jokowi a "fool" for the latter's opposition to a provincial construction project in Surakarta.
His supporters pointed to rapid positive changes in Surakarta under his leadership and the city's branding with the motto 'Solo: The Spirit of Java.' While in office, he successfully relocated antique stalls in the Banjarsari Gardens without incident, a helpful move in revitalising the functions of the open green space; he emphasised the importance of business firms engaging in community activities; he improved communications with the local community by appearing regularly on local television. As a follow-up of the city's new branding, he applied for Surakarta to become a member of the Organization of World Heritage Cities, which was approved in 2006, and subsequently had the city chosen to host the organisation's conference in October 2008.
In 2007, Surakarta had also hosted the World Music Festival, held at the complex of Fort Vastenburg near the centre of the city. The following year, it was held in the Mangkunegaran Palace Complex.
Part of Jokowi style was his populist 'can-do' elements designed to build bonds with the broad electorate. As mayor, he became personally involved in an incident just before Christmas 2011 when the Surakarta municipality had overdue bills of close to $1 million owed to the state-owned electricity company Perusahaan Listrik Negara.
Following its policy of pursuing a more disciplined approach to collecting overdue bills, it imposed a blackout on street lights in the city just before Christmas. The city government quickly authorised payment, but in settling the bill, protested that the PLN should consider the public interest before taking such action. To reinforce the point, Jokowi made a highly publicised personal visit to the local PLN office to deliver the IDR 8.9 billion in cash in the form of hundreds of bundles of notes and even small coins.
In 2010, he was re-elected for a second term, again running with Hadi. They won 90.09% of the vote, losing in only a single polling station. He was later chosen as the 'Tempo Leader of Choice' by Tempo news magazine and received a 'Changemakers Award' from Republika newspaper ; his name also started being considered in national polls for the governorship of Jakarta, long before PDI-P's nomination, including those by University of Indonesia and Cyrus Network.
In 2012, Jokowi faced a smear campaign after declaring his intention to run for the governorship of Jakarta. A group calling itself Save Solo, Save Jakarta and Save Indonesia Team reported him to the Corruption Eradication Commission for allegedly having facilitated misuse of education funds by his subordinates in Surakarta in 2010. The KPK investigated the allegation, found it was based on false data and said there was no indication Jokowi had misappropriated funds.