Telly Nathalia, Jakarta – President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo said on Thursday that he would be able to give his best for the country during his second term, as he would no longer be burdened by having to consider re-election.
The president therefore called on all bureaucrats to stop applying old work routines, patterns and traditions, because he would focus on making the bureaucracy simpler and more efficient, in preparation for Indonesia likely becoming the fifth- or even fourth-largest economic power in the world by 2045.
The statement is his second implicit claim of victory in the April 17 presidential election, in which he ran against former Army general Prabowo Subianto.
His first victory statement was on election night, after several reliable pollsters released their quick-count results, all in favor of Jokowi and his running mate, Ma'ruf Amin. His latest statement was recorded in a video published by the Cabinet Secretariat.
"Watch out, don't continue old routines, patterns, traditions. Stop it. We must stop it. In the next five years, excuse me, I won't be burdened, because I cannot be nominated [as a presidential candidate again]," Jokowi said during a meeting in Jakarta to discuss national planning programs.
"So I will do whatever is best for the country," he said, amid applause from the audience, which included top government leaders from across the country.
Jokowi plans to soon disband any government institutions deemed unnecessary, inefficient or not contributing to the state on the central and regional levels.
He also plans to continue developing infrastructure, as it is necessary if Indonesia wants to become one of the world's largest economic powers.
Congratulated
Meanwhile, a group of prominent figures, all members of the Agency for the Implementation of the State Ideology of Pancasila (BPIP) and led by former President Megawati Sukarnoputri, met with Jokowi to congratulate him on his second term as head of state.
"We congratulated him, because based on the quick counts, he and Mr. Ma'ruf Amin had a [good] result, which would allow him to be inaugurated again as president," Megawati said, as quoted by Kompas.com.
However, she urged the public to wait for the official announcement by the General Elections Commission (KPU) on May 22.
The prominent figures included Said Aqil Siraj, chairman of Nahdlatul Ulama, Indonesia's largest independent Islamic organization; Mahfud M.D., a former Constitutional Court chief justice; Benny Susetyo, a Catholic priest and social observer; Syafei Ma'rif, former chairman of Muhammadiyah, the country's second-largest Islamic organization; and Tri Sutrisno, a former vice president.
They also congratulated the government on last month's peaceful elections.