With Joko Widodo’s Re-election, Indonesia Bucks Global Tilt Toward Strongmen

MANDALIKA, Indonesia — The woman threw herself on the road in front of the motorcade, forcing the vehicle with the license plate "Indonesia 1" to slam on the brakes. "Jokowi, I love you," she cried, as President Joko Widodo of Indonesia , re-elected with the release of Tuesday's vote count, rolled down his window to clasp hands with the sobbing fan on a rural roadside on the island of Lombok. Commonly known by the nickname Jokowi, Mr. Joko seems an unlikely figure to command such rock-star reverence. His oratory depends less on grand vision or populist rhetoric and more on statistics about road building or village financing down to the 10th decimal place. He favors plain white collared shirts and black trousers. He speaks softly. Yet Mr. Joko's re-election to a second and final term as president of the world's fourth most populous nation is a powerful counterweight to the democratic weakening and strongman politics that have recently dominated the global electoral landscape. "I'm president of all of Indonesia, and democracy protects pluralism," Mr. Joko told The New York Times in an interview. "My government is about harmony and opposing extremism." Just by the numbers, of which Mr. Joko is… Read full this story

With Joko Widodo’s Re-election, Indonesia Bucks Global Tilt Toward Strongmen have 298 words, post on www.nytimes.com at May 21, 2019. This is cached page on NGHONG. If you want remove this page, please contact us.