BFF-29 Indonesia’s Jokowi kicks off new term at heavily guarded ceremony

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INDONESIA-POLITICS-ELECTION

Indonesia’s Jokowi kicks off new term at heavily guarded ceremony

JAKARTA, Oct 20, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo was
sworn in for a second term on Sunday, as helicopters flew overhead and troops
kept watch in the capital Jakarta — days after Islamist militants tried to
assassinate his top security minister.

Foreign heads of state, lawmakers and political rivals looked on as
Widodo, 58, and Vice President Ma’ruf Amin, 76, read an oath to start a five-
year tenure leading the world’s biggest Muslim-majority nation.

Outside parliament, red-and-white Indonesian flags dotted parts of the
city but celebrations were muted with supporters outnumbered by some 30,000
security personnel deployed amid fears of another attack.

Demonstrations were also banned on Sunday as extremist violence continues
to plague Indonesia.

Several thousand supporters, many wearing T-shirts bearing the leader’s
image, watched the ceremony on a big screen near Jakarta’s national monument.

“I was worried Islamic (hardliners) would take over the country if he
lost,” supporter Suprihatini, who goes by one name, told AFP.

“I’m Muslim, but I don’t want that kind of movement here,” the 53-year-old
added.

Widely known as Jokowi, the president said his final term would be aimed
at eradicating poverty and catapulting the nation of some 260 million into a
developed country with one of the world’s top five economies by 2045.

“I’m calling on ministers, public officials and bureaucrats to take these
targets seriously,” he told parliament, adding that officials not committed
to his goals would be sacked.

– ‘Critical times’ –

Jokowi, a popular, heavy metal-loving former businessman from outside the
political and military elite, was hailed as Indonesia’s answer to Barack
Obama when he was first elected in 2014, partly on a roads-to-airports
infrastructure drive.

But Sunday’s inauguration comes as his leadership has been under mounting
criticism after a wave of crises that threaten to cast a shadow over his
final term.

It marks a stark reversal of fortune just months after he scored a
thumping re-election victory against a former military general.

Challenges facing the president range from nationwide anti-government
demonstrations — in which three students died — and smog-belching forest
fires that sparked diplomatic tensions with Indonesia’s neighbours, to deadly
unrest in Papua province and a slowdown in Southeast Asia’s biggest economy.

“This is the weakest point in Jokowi’s political leadership,” said Arya
Fernandes, a researcher at the Jakarta-based Centre for Strategic and
International Studies.

“It’s a test for the president in critical times.”

Protests erupted last month across the archipelago that were among the
biggest student rallies since mass demonstrations toppled the Suharto
dictatorship in 1998.

Jokowi’s inauguration comes a little over a week after the country’s chief
security minister was stabbed in an attack by two members of a local
extremist outfit allied to the Islamic State group.

Two suspects were arrested at the scene, while dozens of suspected
militants have since been detained in a country-wide dragnet following the
assassination attempt on Wiranto, a former general who goes by one name.

The 72-year-old is recovering in hospital.

Jokowi’s new term also comes amid criticism that Indonesia’s two decades
of democratic reforms are being eroded under the watch of a man once lauded
by Time magazine as “A New Hope”.

Choosing conservative cleric Amin as vice president has also thrown
Indonesia’s reputation for tolerant Islam into question.

Jokowi’s administration appeared caught off guard in September’s protests
that saw thousands of students hit the streets to demonstrate against a raft
of divisive reforms, including banning pre-marital sex and changes that
critics said would weaken the anti-graft agency.

BSS/AFP/ARS/1730 hrs