Earning Public Trust is Key for Leaders, President Jokowi Says

President Jokowi, VP Ma’ruf Amin, Speaker of the MPR Bambang Soesatyo, Speaker of the DPR Puan Maharani, and Speaker of the DPD La Nyalla Mattalitti arrive at the Plenary Meeting at MPR/DPR/DPD Nusantara Building in Senayan, Jakarta, Wednesday (08/16). (Photo by: BPMI of Presidential Secretariat)

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo underlined the importance of public trust as one of the factors determining whether a policy is feasible.

According to him, future challenges won’t be easy to deal with and require courage and trust as a leader to make difficult and unpopular decisions.

“This is a political strength to lead a big nation like Indonesia,” the President said during his state of the nation address on Wednesday (08/16) at MPR/DPR/DPD Nusantara Building in Senayan, Jakarta.

The President stated that being a president is not as convenient as the people perceived. There’s a big responsibility that must be shouldered and various problems that must be addressed.

“In the social media era like today, anything can reach the President starting from problems faced by the people to anger, mockery, curses, and even slander. Everything can be easily conveyed,” he said.

The President also lamented the degradation of ethical culture and noble character in Indonesia. Nowadays, freedom and democracy are being used to vent malice and slander by people.

“The cultural disruption deeply hurts the civility of Indonesia,” he stated.

Therefore, the President wished that all parties can unite to protect the morality in public space and the mentality of society. This is important so that Indonesia can keep moving forward, carrying out the transformation of the nation towards an Advanced Indonesia and the 2045 Golden Indonesia.

On that occasion, the President also asserted that the authority of determining the presidential candidates and vice-presidential candidate is in the hand of political parties and the political party coalitions. The President doesn’t have the rights to determine the presidential and vice-presidential candidates in the next election.

“I have to underline, that I am not a chairman of a political party, nor the leader of a coalition of political parties. And according to the law, the ones to determine the presidential and vice-presidential candidates are the political parties and political party coalitions. So, I want to emphasize, that it’s not my authority,” he said. (BPMI President Secretariat/UN) (SI/EST)