Joko Widodo: how 'Indonesia's Obama' failed to live up to the hype

As elections loom in one of south-east Asia’s only true democracies, some wonder whether the president has done enough

Five years ago he was south-east Asia’s democratic poster boy, Indonesia’s Obama. His face plastered across Time magazine with three words: A New Hope.

When Joko Widodo, or “Jokowi”, was elected president of one of the only true remaining democracies in the region it was a moment of triumphant vindication – proof that outliers could trump an entrenched oligarchy, that an ordinary Indonesian could make it.

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from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2WM2O5t