The Indonesian President (Presiden) is a constitutional figure who holds a seat in the Presidential Council of Indonesia and acts as head of state. He is the highest-ranking official in Indonesia and is elected by a national vote.
Jokowi is a man of the people, whose reputation for rolling up his sleeves and solving problems propelled him from a small town in Central Java to the country’s presidency. He is also the first Indonesian president not to have emerged from the political or military elite.
President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) The Indonesian President
Widodo is the President of Indonesia and one of the most popular leaders in Southeast Asia. He was first elected in 2014 and became the country’s first president who had not emerged from a military or political elite.
He was born in Surakarta, a city in Central Java, and grew up in a poor family. His father was a wood seller, and in his youth Widodo helped him build shacks near the flood-prone Solo River.
When he started his political career, Jokowi was known for his populist appeal and anti-corruption platform. He was also praised for his impromptu visits to local communities, which allowed him to meet with people directly and address their concerns.
After winning the 2014 presidential election, Jokowi made many promises to increase government transparency and cut red tape, but he also faced criticism for rushing into some policies that were unpopular or unfeasible. These included banning the sale of alcohol in small shops and mandating Indonesian proficiency among foreign workers.
His administration has tried to encourage Chinese investment in Indonesia, but it faces a long and occasionally violent history of anti-Chinese sentiment.
Soeharto The Indonesian President
It has also struggled to implement a new labor law, which requires employers to pay better wages.
The new law, which was approved by the parliament in July 2018, requires employers to pay at least 80% of the minimum wage for their employees. It is expected to boost growth, although it has not yet proved a success.
In recent years, religious and social divisions have flared up in Indonesia. This has resulted in a growing number of protests and mass rallies in the streets. The government has often failed to respond in a timely manner, and conservative religious groups have grown increasingly vocal.
As President, Jokowi has vowed to fight corruption and minimize bureaucracy, aiming to attract more foreign direct investment and rebalance the country’s economy. He also has a hardline stance against drugs.
He has selected Ma’ruf Amin as his running mate, the leader of the Indonesian Ulema Council, the country’s leading Muslim clerical body. Ma’ruf Amin is a cleric who played a key role in the protests that led to former Jakarta governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama’s (Ahok) arrest for blasphemy.
Security policy
The Indonesian President President Jokowi has ushered in a new security policy that incorporates more than just the traditional military-police approach. He has redoubled the Indonesian National Army (TNI)’s role in counterterrorism operations, public ideological campaigns to promote the national doctrine of Pancasila, food distribution, infrastructure and welfare activities in grassroots communities, as well as guarding prisons.
He has also expanded the TNI’s sphere of influence in other areas, enhancing its involvement in the region’s nascent independent state in Papua province. This includes facilitating the transfer of land, as well as increasing TNI’s presence in the area to protect it from pro-independence militia.
This has included the deployment of Indonesia’s intelligence agency BIN, which answers directly to the president rather than to his coordinating minister for politics, law and security affairs. This has enabled BIN to bypass the government’s scrutiny and gain greater access to Jokowi, allowing it to shape the president’s policies on a variety of political and social issues.
BJ Habibie
The Indonesian President The administration has also been quick to enact presidential decrees and government regulations in lieu of law (perppu) on national security matters, circumventing legislative processes. These are a useful tool to respond quickly and effectively to shifting policy imperatives, but they should be used with care.
Among the most high-profile examples of this is the president’s issuance of a presidential decree on BSSN, which has sought to improve Indonesia’s position in the rapidly emerging field of cyber security. The decree is part of a larger suite of related decrees that are intended to better secure and utilise the country’s information infrastructure for national security purposes.
In a world where security is increasingly an issue that spans the realms of technology and diplomacy, achieving broader policy coherence and unity of action remains an important challenge. Australia can contribute to this by developing practical and innovative solutions, which can help Indonesia achieve its cybersecurity objectives.
It is crucial that top-level decision-makers incorporate the interests of all staff when drafting policy. This is especially true of non-administrative staff, who often have unique perspectives that are not reflected in traditional security documents. Having regular meetings to discuss significant issues that impact staff’s work is an effective way of informing policy development and providing buy-in at the lowest levels of the organization.
Civil-military relations The Indonesian President
The term “civil-military relations” is often used to describe the interaction between civilian institutions and military organizations in a society. This term suggests that there is a basic divide between the two groups, with the military’s viewpoint and interest in a society being opposed to its civilian counterparts. This is not necessarily the case, but it can lead to misunderstandings.
Civil-military relations are a complex and often multi-faceted area of study. They involve a number of issues, such as how the military and the government work together, whether they are co-ordinated or not, and whether there is any overlap between the interests of the two groups.
There is a strong tradition of military-civilian relations in Indonesia, dating back to the early twentieth century, when the national army was re-established after decades of conflict with Indonesia’s native ethnic groups. Its purpose was to provide stability and defend the country from internal threats such as insurgency, as well as external ones.
In the 1980s, there was a deterioration in these relations. This was largely due to the failure of the civil government, which led to disaffection and resentment among the military.
Megawati
The Indonesian President It also created a range of internal crises that required the military to intervene in order to secure the country’s internal security.
One of the most important crises for the Indonesian military was the Sikh uprising in Punjab in 1984, when the army was forced to take a role in defending the Golden Temple from an attack by local Hindu groups. The army later took on an increasingly broader role in Indonesian society, assisting the civil government with various issues, including law enforcement and counter-terrorism.
As the nation prepared for Covid-19, Jokowi began to make some significant changes to the way that he interacted with the military and police. He increased the use of the military as an instrument to impose discipline on Indonesians. He also authorised TNI to sanction civilians directly.
In a country like Indonesia, where there is little or no unity of viewpoint and interest between the military and the civilian population, this approach can work. However, there is also a need to ensure that the military has the right tools and capabilities available to it when dealing with civil problems. This means widening the scope of the security apparatus, not only by increasing the TNI’s role but also by introducing the police to their activities and giving the State Intelligence Agency (BIN) greater influence.
Social policy
Social policy is an interdisciplinary field that explores social issues, including poverty, inequality, crime, employment creation and healthcare. It is concerned with the ways in which governments address these problems and how these policies are implemented and evaluated.
Social policies often involve a range of government agencies, and include such areas as education, healthcare, housing, criminal justice, youth services, employment, and gender. The aim of these policies is to ensure that everyone has access to a decent standard of living, as well as protection from the consequences of poverty and abuse.
Jokowi has shown a deep commitment to reducing social inequalities. However, he has also been quick to recognise that such inequalities are rooted in historical, cultural, and economic factors.
Despite these constraints, Jokowi is determined to transform Indonesia during his second term in office (2019-2024). He has refocused on the economy and development rather than advancing social or political reform goals. He has slashed the size of his reformed central and regional governments, consolidated the influence of business leaders, and streamlined government operations.
Abdurrahman Wahid
When he was first elected president, Jokowi strove to break new ground in Indonesian politics and to promote social equity. His progressive agenda, however, was stymied by opposition from powerful political parties and oligarchs.
At the same time, he struggled to achieve his economic targets while the economy was in recession. The Covid-19 pandemic exacerbated this problem, creating a crisis that was not only debilitating for the health sector but also threatened to undermine his ambitious plans.
To cope with the crisis, Jokowi introduced tighter public health protocols requiring people to avoid contact with others and to follow strict sanitation standards. He also backed business leaders in calling for more generous economic relief.
In July, the president decreed that the national agency for social policy and development (BIN), which had long sought direct access to him, would now answer directly to him instead of the coordinating minister for politics, law and security affairs. This was seen as a step toward the consolidation of power and an indication that Gunawan, a former police general with close ties to PDIP and Megawati, would be able to influence the President’s decisions on a wide range of social and political issues.