Political Analyst Likens Jokowi to Late-Soeharto's Leadership

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - A political analyst at Lingkar Madani Indonesia Ray Rangkuti argues that President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo tends to adopt a leadership style reminiscent of the late-president Soeharto in his second term in office. Rangkuti mentioned this in a virtual discussion on Tuesday. 

“The path of leadership Jokowi, for the past year at least, is tending to look more like Soeharto rather than Soekarno or Habibie,” said Rangkuti on Tuesday, October 20. 

The political analyst explained several signs he believes are shared between Jokowi and Soeharto. The first is President Jokowi’s focus on development which is similar to Soeharto’s era under the ‘New Order.’

“Jokowi is only thinking about investments and infrastructure,” he explained. 

The second sign, according to the analyst, is the use of authorities upon creating political stability and the use of state-tools to silence critical voices and capture activists under the reasoning that they had violated the ITE Law. 

Other aspects he believes are shared between the current president and the late-president include accumulating and getting-hold of political power, attracting investments that tend to exploit natural resources, neglecting anti-graft movements, and the emergence of political dynasties. 

Read: Jokowi's First Year in Office; KontraS Highlights Human Rights Violations

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