Jakarta Globe, Bloomberg, Dec 31, 2014
In his run for president this year, Joko Widodo pledged to bring greater openness and accountability to Indonesia. As his administration faces its first international crisis, the mysterious crash of an AirAsia jet, he’s proving to be a man of his word.
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| President Joko Widodo on board a Hercules plane taking part in the search for AirAsia Flight QZ8501, on Tuesday.(Antara Photo/Andika Wahyu) |
In his run for president this year, Joko Widodo pledged to bring greater openness and accountability to Indonesia. As his administration faces its first international crisis, the mysterious crash of an AirAsia jet, he’s proving to be a man of his word.
You can
tell a lot about a nation from its response to great tragedy, whether it’s
Japan’s 2011 Fukushima crisis, Malaysia’s lost Boeing 777 in March or South
Korea’s deadly ferry accident in April. So far, Joko has performed admirably.
Since news
broke on Sunday that an Airbus A320 flying from Surabaya, Indonesia, to
Singapore vanished with 162 people on board, Joko has coordinated
search-and-rescue efforts, demanded a review of air safety regulations and
called on weather agencies to provide timelier information. His government is
giving steady updates, and Joko has sought help from Singapore, Malaysia, South
Korea, Australia and, remarkably, China and the US in finding Flight QZ8501.
In
contrast, last spring, Malaysia was widely criticized for the secrecy and
paranoia that surrounded its search for a Malaysia Airlines flight that
disappeared with 239 people aboard. Welcoming US and Chinese military ships
into Indonesia’s orbit speaks to Joko’s confidence as a leader.
Let’s hope
this is a harbinger of future competence. Joko is the fifth president since
dictator Suharto was ousted in 1998 but the first true political outsider to
run Southeast Asia’s biggest economy. Because he’s not a member of a dynastic
family or the military, he isn’t beholden to vested interests looking to siphon
the benefits of Indonesia’s 5 percent growth. That gives him latitude to
dismantle the kleptocracy that Suharto built during his 32-year reign and raise
Indonesia’s competitiveness.
As governor
of Jakarta, starting in 2012, Joko brought a surprising level of transparency.
He moved budget procurement and tax collection processes online. He’s now
working to make national government services electronic to reduce opportunities
for graft and improve efficiency. Opening up the process of granting licenses
for developing infrastructure, mines and plantations alone would do much to
clean up the nation’s political and business climate.
Indonesia’s
aviation industry also has long cried out for greater oversight. Its carriers,
air traffic controllers and the skies around the archipelago of 250 million
people are notorious for their regulatory laxity. As recently as 2009, state
carrier Garuda was banned from European Union airspace. That laxity is a
product of decades of cronyism and institutional neglect.
While
Joko’s predecessor Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono made inroads against graft,
Indonesia’s still ranks behind Djibouti and Argentina and a sober 22 rungs
below India in Transparency International’s latest corruption perceptions index. The daylight Joko wants to shine on the government is needed to attract
more foreign investment and ensure that scarce revenues are spent on education,
health care and poverty programs.
The
openness and assertiveness with which Joko has responded to Flight QZ8501 gives
me reason to hope that Indonesia will be prepared for whatever comes its way.
William
Pesek is a Bloomberg View columnist based in Tokyo and writes on economics,
markets and politics throughout the Asia-Pacific region.
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| President Joko Widodo, center, talks to the head of Indonesia’s national search and rescue agency, Soelistyo, left, and Chief of the Sea Security Coordinating Agency, Vice Admiral Desi Albert Mamahit, right, shortly before a news conference about missing Indonesia AirAsia flight QZ 8501 in Jakarta, on Dec. 29, 2014. (EPA Photo/Bagus Indahono) |
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