If The Genius Figure Referred To By Kishore Mahbubani Is Jokowi, The Mayor Of Solo, OK

President Jokowi during blusukan (Source: Wikiwand)

JAKARTA - National University of Singapore professor and researcher, Kishore Mahbubani called President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) the most effective genius leader in the world. Mahbubani's statement reaped controversy. The hashtag #JokowiJenius_TapiBoong was echoed on Twitter.

Mahbubani called Jokowi the best example of a 21st century world leader, who is even better than the President of the United States (US) Joe Biden. In the eyes of Mahbubani Biden failed to mend the wounds of political division due to the 2020 US Presidential Election.

Things are different with Jokowi. The figure of the former Governor of DKI Jakarta (2012-2014) was actually able to embrace his political opponents. "For starters, Jokowi has bridged Indonesia's political divide," said Mahbubani.

"Almost a year after Joe Biden won the 2020 US presidential election, 78 percent of Republicans still don't believe he was legally elected. Biden has served as a US senator for 36 years. But he can't heal America's partisan divisions."

Jokowi and Joe Biden (Instagram/@jokowi)

"In contrast, the presidential and vice presidential candidates who were defeated by Jokowi in his re-election 2019 – Prabowo Subianto and Sandiaga Uno – are now serving in his cabinet (as minister of defense and minister of tourism, respectively)," added Mahbubani, quoted from the Project Syndicate article entitled The Genius of Jokowi (2021).

Mahbubani also described a series of Jokowi's other achievements, such as the Omnibuslaw legal product, new jobs, and infrastructure development. Others, Mahbubani highlighted Jokowi's swift movement to secure 175 million doses of vaccine for 270 million Indonesians.

“This is why Jokowi's success deserves wider appreciation. The world can learn a lot from his good governance model,” explained Mahbubani.

What does the data say?

Many domestic public think otherwise. The appearance of the hashtag #JokowiJenius_ TapiBoong on Twitter is a form of satire. The data supports public skepticism of Jokowi's genius predicate.

The level of satisfaction with President Jokowi's performance during COVID-19 tends to decline in national surveys. The Political Indicator Survey, which was held on September 17-21 last month, for example.

The Executive Director of Political Indicators Burhanuddin Muhtadi revealed that the level of satisfaction with Jokowi's performance was still above 50 percent, namely 58.1 percent. But the trend turned out to be decreasing compared to the survey before the COVID-19 pandemic.

"If you look at the trend, there is a decrease in President Jokowi's satisfaction, when the survey was conducted under conditions of the implementation of Community Activity Restrictions (PPKM). There is an impact of PPKM on the decrease in satisfaction with the President's performance," said Burhanuddin.

President Jokowi on the national vaccination agenda in East Kalimantan (Source: Antara)

The survey released by the Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI) on July 18 also showed a downward trend towards satisfaction with Jokowi's performance. The survey highlights public attitudes toward vaccines and government vaccination programs.

In the LSI survey, 59.6 percent of the public said they were very and quite satisfied with Jokowi's performance in dealing with the COVID-19 outbreak. Meanwhile, 37.1 percent of respondents are not satisfied.

"However, this satisfaction has decreased in the last six months," said LSI Executive Director Djayadi Hanan as quoted by Kumparan.

Jokowi in Solo

Jokowi in blusukan at a market (Source: Wikiwand)

In Solo, Jokowi made many breakthroughs. He not only fixes the infrastructure but also strengthens the identity of the City of Solo through the branding "The Spirit of Java". Like his presidential term, Jokowi also served two terms in Solo.

Interestingly, Jokowi has a landslide lead over his rivals in the second term of government with 90.08 percent of the vote. “Since then, Jokowi's name has become a media concern. easy targets to find news around Central Java, even nationally."

"So when Jokowi and FX Hadi ran again in the Solo City Election for the second period, 2010-2015, they managed to get a fantastic vote of 90.09 percent."

"This is the first time in the history of elections in Indonesia, there is a candidate for a leader candidate who gets almost 100 percent like the Jokowi-Hadi pair," Dedi Mahardi, in the book Indonesia Needs Jokowi (2018).

Jokowi's genius in leading has earned Solo many awards. Jokowi once brought Solo to the title as the city with the second best spatial layout in Indonesia.

Photo illustration, Jokowi and Sinuhun Pakubuwana XIII (Source: Wikiwand)

It was thanks to Jokowi that Solo received the Citra Bhakti Abdi Negara trophy and certificate from the President of the Republic of Indonesia in 2009. Jokowi is also known as a figure who is good at positioning himself in front of students and the people.

The former Chairperson of the Student Executive Council (DEM) of the Fisip University of Slamet Riyadi (Unisri) for the 2011-2013 period, Lalu Jatiswara Mahardika agreed with this. During Jatiswara's tenure as chairman of DEM, Jokowi was very cooperative with students.

Jokowi often invites students to have a dialogue regarding the correction of his government. Therefore, Jokowi can collaborate well with students. Even Jokowi's policies during his tenure were often pro to the small people.

"In this case, I do not position myself (every day) to be a direct eye witness seeing Jokowi in contact with the community. But looking at the arrangement of the city of Solo, which is so neat, neat for traders."

"This means that not only big traders, but small traders are also given a place for them to sell, even better arranged. That's how I felt when he was in office," concluded Jatiswara when contacted by VOI, October 11.

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