Joko Supporters Form 2014 Presidential Candidacy Group

Jakarta Governor Joko Widodo. (JG Photo/Safir Makki)

A group supporting Jakarta Governor Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s presidential candidacy has officially set itself up as a formal organization, one of its executives said on Monday.

Sihol Manullang, a member of the organization that calls itself the Ranks of Volunteers for Jokowi as President in 2014 (Bara JP) said that the organization established itself at its first congress in Bandung on Saturday.

The group, Sihol said, would call on the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and its chairperson Megawati Sukarnoputri to endorse Joko’s candidacy in the 2014 presidential election.

Joko won the Jakarta gubernatorial election last year on a PDI-P ticket.

Sihol said that the main aim of the organization was to promote and collect signatures in support of Joko’s candidacy. He added that although the organization’s current executive board was only for the national level, it will work hard to establish boards at the provincial and district levels in the future.

The congress on Saturday also issued a political manifesto that called for a healthier political culture in Indonesia and a stronger role for the public in electing its leaders.

Sohol said that at present, democracy in the country was still very superficial and that election candidates were still very much determined by political parties.

“In the legislative elections, people are forced to elect candidates that are not known by the people and have unclear track records,” Sahul said.

The congress, he said, urged all political parties to listen to the people before declaring candidates.

“Indonesia also needs a president that really sides with the people, not one that pretends to be a president and then only gathers wealth for his party and maintains power with the wealth amassed. Transactional politics needs to be ended, and the people need to be more sovereign,” he said.

Joko has polled high on the list of popularity in surveys conducted ahead of the 2014 presidential elections.

A recent survey by the Center for Strategic and International Studies showed that 29 percent of the 1,600 respondents polled said they would vote for Joko, ahead of Prabowo Subianto, a retired Army general and previous front-runner, at 16 percent.