Believe it or not, culture has a strong influence to someone's character. Since the election is coming up in 9th of July, I am particularly interested in discussing one of our president candidate, Joko Widodo.
Joko Widodo or commonly called Jokowi was born and raised in Surakarta, since 21 June 1961. He was a child of a carpenter and he was a poor little boy. Until he grown up now, his career in politics was unpredictable. Becoming a Surakarta Mayor for almost 2 period, and now he is the governor of DKI Jakarta. After two years becoming a governor, he was chosen to join Presidential Election 2014.
During his campaign period, -as every campaign goes-, there were plenty black campaign against Joko Widodo. One example that he was considered as "A Doll President". Why? In campaign period, all of things that Jokowi did, would be exposed in media. This one time, Jokowi was kissing the hand of former president and party chairperson Megawati Soekarnoputri in the recent 41st anniversary of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP). This gesture was speculated to be his political significance ahead of the 2014 general election. Showing that Jokowi was "conquered" by Megawati.
Jokowi emphasized his gesture was merely part of the customary expression of deep respect for elders, and, therefore, should not be politically interpreted. The gesture should not be hastily associated with his probable presidential bid. However, I find that such a cultural gesture is inherent in Jokowi’s rites to acquire and maintain power and legitimacy.
As he lived his entire life mostly in Java, Jokowi represent the way of life of the common Javanese. For the Javanese, showing respect is a key element in maintaining social harmony. Within the tradition of the priayi, those considered the cultured elite, such gestures of respect are part of people’s obligations to the power holders and elite class in general. But since his political career in Solo, Jokowi has managed to exploit the cultural approach, demonstrating that the leader should also bestow respect on commoners.
His popularity in Solo was when as mayor he managed to peacefully relocate vendors around the Banjarsari monument. There were hidden negotiations with informal actors. Jokowi has a unique approach to engage them in the process. Such deliberative style brought him to be a great and respectful leader, as he also conducted many rites to express his respect for the people. Jokowi also introduced the style of "blusukan", in his impromptu visits, in order to break the ice in relations with city officials and residents.
In Javanese norms, those rites are called "nguwongke uwong" which means treating a person as a person, an idiom of respect to the other. Jokowi puts this kind of cultural element in his democracy practice as a mayor in Solo and as governor in Jakarta.
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| Jokowi's kissing SBY's hand |
| Jokowi's kissing Mrs. Shinta Nurriah (wife of former President of Indonesia, Abdurrahman Wahid) |
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| Jokowi and his mother |
Seeing those pictures above, showing that Jokowi did kiss the hand of people who are older than him, to express his respect to those people. This gesture might become politically influential for his election, for what he was doing was undoubtedly win the hearts of large segments of Indonesians.
However, the character of Jokowi was mainly determined by his culture. Jokowi adopted a culture of respect that he learned mainly as a Javanese commoner. His cultural awareness of nguwongke uwong is somewhat natural rather than constructed for his political career.
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