Fadjroel Convinced Jokowi To Stand Up For Reforms Regarding The Position Of The President

JAKARTA - The former spokesman for President Joko Widodo, Fadjroel Rachman, believes that Jokowi will stick with reforms related to the presidential term.

"I believe that President Jokowi upholds reform," said Fadjroel in a written statement quoted by Antara, Thursday, April 7.

He said his belief was based on the experience gained while working with Jokowi.

According to Fadjroel, the struggle to prioritize limiting the presidential term for two terms has started since he became a student leader at ITB and UI. From the two campuses, Fadjroel admitted that he was an exponent of reform as well as a victim of the new order's anti-democratic totalitarian regime.

"I was exiled to Nusakambangan and then thrown into the Sukamiskin prison, where Bung Karno was imprisoned by the Dutch for resisting the colonial regime," he said.

According to Fadjroel, who has felt friends with Jokowi since serving as mayor of Solo, he was one of the people who invited Jokowi to participate in the Jakarta gubernatorial election. He views Jokowi as a clean person and has a big vision to complete the reform agenda.

Then, Fadjroel also became Jokowi's success team in the 2014 and 2019 presidential elections and is willing to be the spokesman for the President in 2019-2021.

"From the experience of working together, I feel of one heart and soul with President Jokowi to complete the entire 1998 reform agenda," he added.

Fadjroel added, before he left for Kazakhstan to carry out his duties as ambassador, President Jokowi summoned himself to the Merdeka Palace and repeated what was said when he was the President's spokesman.

"That he is loyal to the reform agenda, such as limiting the presidential term to two terms, direct presidential elections, and direct election of regional heads," he explained.

As an exponent of the 1998 reformation, he appreciated President Jokowi's firm decision in a cabinet meeting which asked all ministers of the Advanced Indonesia Cabinet to stop voicing the issue of postponing elections and extending the presidential term.

"Jokowi's decision is in line with my view that the two periods of price are fixed," he said.