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Before the ‘Jokowi Effect,’ Dahlan Iskan Brought Change
Pitan Daslani | October 21, 2012
When Dahlan Iskan joined President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s cabinet in October last year as the minister of state-owned enterprises, he introduced a new culture that emphasized humbleness and authenticity, even in such a high-ranking position. His critics found him eccentric.
Dahlan refused to dress like a minister, eschewing the suits favored by high powered officials. And as if he were still a newspaper editor, he would often take immediate action to correct problems that crossed his path. He once opened a toll gate, personally waving drivers through who had been idling in traffic during rush hour. Famously, he once took it upon himself to clean a toilet at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, lamenting that dirty toilets would make a terrible first impression on visitors.
Such exhibitions drew sympathy from students and the younger generation at large, who were searching for an alternative public figure who could meet their criteria of a desirable national leader.
In a matter of weeks, Dahlan became the most popular minister and a press darling even though, as he admitted, he was “reprimanded three times” for not exactly looking and behaving like a minister.
Dahlan’s humble and down-to-earth attitude was a powerful eye-opener for the rest of the political elite, though he was not universally liked by the government leadership.
He was a pioneer in changing bureaucratic behavior. But to a certain extent, he also learned from former President Abdurrahman “Gus Dur” Wahid, who turned the presidential palace into “a home of the people,” removed the exclusivity of the presidential office and promoted pluralism as part of the nation’s sociopolitical reality.
From Gus Dur’s era to Dahlan’s rise to prominence, society’s perceptions and attitudes about statesmanship, leadership and civil service had begun to change.
People began to think that being a high-ranking state official did not have to mean looking artificially flawless, appearing bossy, or maintaining a large degree of distance from the public.
But Dahlan came along at a time when society’s burning desire for change had not yet reached its peak. Besides, he was doing it alone and consequently found himself in the position of being labeled a strange creature in the circles of the political elite.
He did not receive sufficient backing from political parties due to his personal eccentricities. But it was precisely those character traits that voters began to look for in subsequent leaders.
Those voters found a fitting replica a year later in Joko Widodo, the current governor of Jakarta, who is popularly known by his nickname, Jokowi.
The new governor has not only become a friend of the populace, but a great teacher and, ironically, he is being viewed with suspicion by many politicians.
His personality, charm and leadership style silently attack the entrenched culture of aristocratic behavior and superficial reputation-building that many political leaders have relied on for decades.
As of this month, public attention and expectations have shifted from Dahlan to Jokowi as a model leader. Here is a governor who is far more popular than the cabinet ministers. He was the first Indonesian mayor ever to have been profiled in The New York Times.
Political pundits are now studying the impact the “Jokowi effect” may bring to the next presidential election.
Even before he took the gubernatorial chair, political analysts had already put his name on the list of potential candidates for the 2014 presidential election.
That doesn’t mean he is ready for the country’s highest executive position. It means that society is now looking for a national leader like him. Somebody whom even ordinary people can talk to, one who removes the distance between himself and the people he leads; a leader by talent and not a boss by design. A boss would say “do this” or “do that.” A leader would say “do it like this, like I do.”
Jokowi is a leader who serves, and not a boss to be served. He is a public servant who prefers to be among his people, to feel what they feel and share their smiles and tears. That is natural leadership based on passion instead of appearance-engineering nonsense. And this is very difficult for the bossy, plutocratic bureaucrats to digest, let alone to follow.
Not surprisingly, Saleh P. Daulay, chairman of the youth wing of Islamic organization Muhammadiyah, was quoted as saying on Friday that Indonesia would need “somebody like Jokowi” to replace President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in 2014.
Too fast? Maybe. But indeed the Jokowi effect is positively contagious. Everywhere in the country, his leadership style is being taken as a barometer to judge the behavior of leaders in all fields. His economic concept is being promulgated by this newspaper as “Jokonomics,” while his attitude of respecting elders is highly applauded as an exemplary trait of a civilized character.
The latest example of this happened on Friday when, to everyone’s surprise, he kissed the hand of his former boss — the governor of Central Java, Bibit Waluyo, who once scolded him as “a stupid man.”
Bibit became angry with Jokowi on several occasions, most recently when the former Solo mayor swapped the official car for an Esemka, an automobile produced by local high school students.
But in being so humble and seemingly submissive to his former boss, Jokowi has actually won the war against the arrogant and bossy attitude that is characteristic of most government officials. In doing so, he gathered even more followers and greater popularity.
Now nothing can alter this stream of change in society’s expectations of a future national leader. The next Indonesian president can only be somebody with a “Jokowi kind of character” because anything that goes against this trend would only end up totally rejected by society.
Let me shortlist the Jokowi traits that must exist in future presidential candidates. Firstly, future candidates must be brave enough to be themselves, rather than appear superficially flawless. They must be humble instead of appearing lofty, bossy and haughty. They must display a natural, rather than an artificial passion for the fate of the lower walks of life.
A clean record is also key, to avoid the need for any reputation-engineering efforts. Regardless of age, they must represent the younger generation, who will comprise the largest portion of voters in 2014. They must be acceptable to all circles, and not merely popular. And finally, they must master the details of governance and coordination with different interest groups.
This kind of leader will naturally cause his or her staff to be disciplined. Such a leader would not rely on apple-polishing reports from pandering subordinates, but would go down to the field to check the truth of every report.
That brings us to the question of who actually fits such criteria. Certainly none of the leaders of the political parties now aiming for the next presidency would fit that. In fact, they have the exact opposite of Jokowi’s personality, charm and leadership style. None of them is a public servant; none wishes to be.
In the 2014 election, consequently, none of them will sell themselves. Voters are already fed up with their bossy, primordial, plutocratic and transactional pseudo-loyalty for the nation. All such artificial personality traits will backfire on them. And all the image-engineering will prove to be irrelevant.
It’s time the older generation leaves the stage and takes with them their ambitions that no longer fit present-day realities and political trends.
Statesmanship does not only mean having great vision, leadership and passion for the nation. It also means knowing one’s limits, acknowledging better qualities in others and giving opportunities to the right people to become one’s successor.
Will Megawati Sukarnoputri, Jusuf Kalla, Prabowo Subianto, Aburizal Bakrie, Wiranto and other senior leaders agree to this proposition? Time will tell and their responses will reveal just what sort of leaders they are.
When Dahlan Iskan joined President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s cabinet in October last year as the minister of state-owned enterprises, he introduced a new culture that emphasized humbleness and authenticity, even in such a high-ranking position. His critics found him eccentric.
Dahlan refused to dress like a minister, eschewing the suits favored by high powered officials. And as if he were still a newspaper editor, he would often take immediate action to correct problems that crossed his path. He once opened a toll gate, personally waving drivers through who had been idling in traffic during rush hour. Famously, he once took it upon himself to clean a toilet at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, lamenting that dirty toilets would make a terrible first impression on visitors.
Such exhibitions drew sympathy from students and the younger generation at large, who were searching for an alternative public figure who could meet their criteria of a desirable national leader.
In a matter of weeks, Dahlan became the most popular minister and a press darling even though, as he admitted, he was “reprimanded three times” for not exactly looking and behaving like a minister.
Dahlan’s humble and down-to-earth attitude was a powerful eye-opener for the rest of the political elite, though he was not universally liked by the government leadership.
He was a pioneer in changing bureaucratic behavior. But to a certain extent, he also learned from former President Abdurrahman “Gus Dur” Wahid, who turned the presidential palace into “a home of the people,” removed the exclusivity of the presidential office and promoted pluralism as part of the nation’s sociopolitical reality.
From Gus Dur’s era to Dahlan’s rise to prominence, society’s perceptions and attitudes about statesmanship, leadership and civil service had begun to change.
People began to think that being a high-ranking state official did not have to mean looking artificially flawless, appearing bossy, or maintaining a large degree of distance from the public.
But Dahlan came along at a time when society’s burning desire for change had not yet reached its peak. Besides, he was doing it alone and consequently found himself in the position of being labeled a strange creature in the circles of the political elite.
He did not receive sufficient backing from political parties due to his personal eccentricities. But it was precisely those character traits that voters began to look for in subsequent leaders.
Those voters found a fitting replica a year later in Joko Widodo, the current governor of Jakarta, who is popularly known by his nickname, Jokowi.
The new governor has not only become a friend of the populace, but a great teacher and, ironically, he is being viewed with suspicion by many politicians.
His personality, charm and leadership style silently attack the entrenched culture of aristocratic behavior and superficial reputation-building that many political leaders have relied on for decades.
As of this month, public attention and expectations have shifted from Dahlan to Jokowi as a model leader. Here is a governor who is far more popular than the cabinet ministers. He was the first Indonesian mayor ever to have been profiled in The New York Times.
Political pundits are now studying the impact the “Jokowi effect” may bring to the next presidential election.
Even before he took the gubernatorial chair, political analysts had already put his name on the list of potential candidates for the 2014 presidential election.
That doesn’t mean he is ready for the country’s highest executive position. It means that society is now looking for a national leader like him. Somebody whom even ordinary people can talk to, one who removes the distance between himself and the people he leads; a leader by talent and not a boss by design. A boss would say “do this” or “do that.” A leader would say “do it like this, like I do.”
Jokowi is a leader who serves, and not a boss to be served. He is a public servant who prefers to be among his people, to feel what they feel and share their smiles and tears. That is natural leadership based on passion instead of appearance-engineering nonsense. And this is very difficult for the bossy, plutocratic bureaucrats to digest, let alone to follow.
Not surprisingly, Saleh P. Daulay, chairman of the youth wing of Islamic organization Muhammadiyah, was quoted as saying on Friday that Indonesia would need “somebody like Jokowi” to replace President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in 2014.
Too fast? Maybe. But indeed the Jokowi effect is positively contagious. Everywhere in the country, his leadership style is being taken as a barometer to judge the behavior of leaders in all fields. His economic concept is being promulgated by this newspaper as “Jokonomics,” while his attitude of respecting elders is highly applauded as an exemplary trait of a civilized character.
The latest example of this happened on Friday when, to everyone’s surprise, he kissed the hand of his former boss — the governor of Central Java, Bibit Waluyo, who once scolded him as “a stupid man.”
Bibit became angry with Jokowi on several occasions, most recently when the former Solo mayor swapped the official car for an Esemka, an automobile produced by local high school students.
But in being so humble and seemingly submissive to his former boss, Jokowi has actually won the war against the arrogant and bossy attitude that is characteristic of most government officials. In doing so, he gathered even more followers and greater popularity.
Now nothing can alter this stream of change in society’s expectations of a future national leader. The next Indonesian president can only be somebody with a “Jokowi kind of character” because anything that goes against this trend would only end up totally rejected by society.
Let me shortlist the Jokowi traits that must exist in future presidential candidates. Firstly, future candidates must be brave enough to be themselves, rather than appear superficially flawless. They must be humble instead of appearing lofty, bossy and haughty. They must display a natural, rather than an artificial passion for the fate of the lower walks of life.
A clean record is also key, to avoid the need for any reputation-engineering efforts. Regardless of age, they must represent the younger generation, who will comprise the largest portion of voters in 2014. They must be acceptable to all circles, and not merely popular. And finally, they must master the details of governance and coordination with different interest groups.
This kind of leader will naturally cause his or her staff to be disciplined. Such a leader would not rely on apple-polishing reports from pandering subordinates, but would go down to the field to check the truth of every report.
That brings us to the question of who actually fits such criteria. Certainly none of the leaders of the political parties now aiming for the next presidency would fit that. In fact, they have the exact opposite of Jokowi’s personality, charm and leadership style. None of them is a public servant; none wishes to be.
In the 2014 election, consequently, none of them will sell themselves. Voters are already fed up with their bossy, primordial, plutocratic and transactional pseudo-loyalty for the nation. All such artificial personality traits will backfire on them. And all the image-engineering will prove to be irrelevant.
It’s time the older generation leaves the stage and takes with them their ambitions that no longer fit present-day realities and political trends.
Statesmanship does not only mean having great vision, leadership and passion for the nation. It also means knowing one’s limits, acknowledging better qualities in others and giving opportunities to the right people to become one’s successor.
Will Megawati Sukarnoputri, Jusuf Kalla, Prabowo Subianto, Aburizal Bakrie, Wiranto and other senior leaders agree to this proposition? Time will tell and their responses will reveal just what sort of leaders they are.
sumber :
http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/commentary/before-the-jokowi-effect-dahlan-iskan-brought-change/551414
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