Joko Widodo was born Mulyono on 21 June 1961 in Surakarta and is of Javanese descent.He is the eldest of four siblings and is the only son of Noto Mihardjo (father) and Sudjiatmi Notomihardjo (mother).
He has three younger sisters, named Iit Sriyantini, Ida Yati, and Titik Relawati. His father came from Karanganyar, while his grandparents came from a village in Boyolali.
Jokowi was often sick as a toddler, and his name was thus changed—a common practice in Javanese culture—to Joko Widodo, with widodo meaning "healthy" in Javanese. At the age of 12, he started working in his father's furniture workshop.
Throughout his childhood, Jokowi's family constantly faced evictions from their landlords; this greatly affected him, and later in his career, he organised medical housing in Surakarta during his years as mayor of the city.
Jokowi's education began at State Elementary School 111 Tirtoyoso, known for being a school for less wealthy citizens. He continued his studies in State Junior High School 1 Surakarta, and later wanted to attend State Senior High School 1 Surakarta, but failed the entrance exam and instead enrolled in State Senior High School 6 Surakarta.
Jokowi graduated from the Forestry faculty at Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta, in 1985, where his work included studies and research on the use of plywood.
Business career
After graduating from university, Jokowi began work at PT Kertas Kraft Aceh (id), a state-owned firm in Aceh, Sumatra. He worked in the present-day Bener Meriah Regency between 1986 and 1988 as a supervisor of forestry and raw materials of a Pinus merkusii plantation.
However, Jokowi soon became uninterested in his activities in the firm and returned home. He began working in his grandfather's furniture factory for a year before establishing his own company, Rakabu, whose namesake is his first child.
The company, which mainly focused on teak furniture, nearly went bankrupt at one point but survived following an IDR 500 million loan from Perusahaan Gas Negara. By 1991, the company began exporting its products, and they were successful in international markets. The firm first established a presence in the European market in France, and it was a French customer named Bernard who gave Joko Widodo the nickname "Jokowi".
By 2002, Jokowi had become the chairman of Surakarta's furniture manufacturers association.
Ultimately he decided to become a politician and promote reform in his home town, Surakarta, after seeing the neat layouts of some European cities while promoting his furniture there.
After becoming mayor, he also made a joint venture with politician and former lieutenant general Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, when the two founded PT Rakabu Sejahtera (from Rakabu and Luhut's PT Toba Sejahtera).
In 2018, Jokowi reported his net worth to be Rp 50.25 billion (US$3.5 million), mostly in the form of property holdings in Central Java and Jakarta.
Political career
Mayor of Surakarta
After first joining PDI-P in 2004, Jokowi ran in the mayoral race in Surakarta in 2005 with F. X. Hadi Rudyatmo as his running mate, with the support of PDI-P and the National Awakening Party. The pair won 36.62% of the vote against the incumbent Slamet Suryanto and two other candidates.
During the campaign, many questioned his background as a property and furniture businessman. However, one academic paper claimed his leadership style was successful because it established an interactive relationship with the people, through which he was able to induce people's strong faith in him. He adopted the development framework of European cities (which he frequently travelled to as a businessman) as a guide for changes in Surakarta.
His notable policies as mayor included: Building new traditional markets and renovating existing markets, constructing a 7-km city walk with a 3-meter wide pedestrian walkway along Surakarta's main street, revitalising the Balekambang and Sriwedari parks, employing stricter regulations on cutting down trees along the city's main streets, rebranding the city as a centre of Javanese culture and tourism under the tagline 'The Spirit of Java', promoting the city as a centre for meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions (MICE), launching healthcare and education insurance program for all residents, a local bus rapid transit system named Batik Solo Trans and a Solo Techno Park, which helped support the Esemka Indonesian car project.It was during his tenure as mayor that he conducted the blusukan, an impromptu visit to specific areas to listen to people's issues, which proved popular later in his political career.
He also prohibited his family members from bidding for city projects, therefore suppressing the risk of corruption. His policies brought him into conflict with then provincial governor Bibit Waluyo, who on one occasion called Jokowi a "fool" for the latter's opposition to a provincial construction project in Surakarta.
His supporters pointed to rapid positive changes in Surakarta under his leadership and the city's branding with the motto 'Solo: The Spirit of Java'. While in office, he successfully relocated antique stalls in the Banjarsari Gardens without incident, a helpful move in revitalising the functions of the open green land; he emphasised the importance of business firms engaging in community activities; he improved communications with the local community by appearing regularly on local television.
As a follow-up of the city's new branding, he applied for Surakarta to become a member of the Organization of World Heritage Cities, which was approved in 2006, and subsequently had the city chosen to host the organisation's conference in October 2008. In 2007, Surakarta had also hosted the World Music Festival (Festival Musik Dunia/FMD), held at the complex of Fort Vastenburg near the centre of the city. The following year, it was held in the Mangkunegaran Palace Complex.
Part of Jokowi's style was his populist 'can-do' (punya gaye) elements designed to build bonds with the broad electorate.
As mayor, he became personally involved in an incident just before Christmas 2011 when the Surakarta municipality had overdue bills of close to $1 million (IDR 8.9 billion) owed to the state-owned electricity company Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN).
Following its policy of pursuing a more disciplined approach to collecting overdue bills, it imposed a blackout on street lights in the city just before Christmas. The city government quickly authorised payment, but in settling the bill, protested that the PLN should consider the public interest before taking such action.
To reinforce the point, Jokowi made a highly publicised personal visit to the local PLN office to deliver the IDR 8.9 billion in cash in the form of hundreds of bundles of notes and even small coins.
In 2010, he was re-elected for a second term, again running with Hadi. They won 90.09% of the vote, losing in only a single polling station.
He was later chosen as the 'Tempo Leader of Choice' by Tempo news magazine (2008) and received a 'Changemakers Award' from Republika newspaper (2010); his name also started being considered in national polls for the governorship of Jakarta, long before PDI-P's nomination, including those by University of Indonesia and Cyrus Network (2011).
In 2012, Jokowi faced a smear campaign after declaring his intention to run for the governorship of Jakarta. A group calling itself Save Solo, Save Jakarta and Save Indonesia Team (TS3) reported him to the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) for allegedly having facilitated misuse of education funds by his subordinates in Surakarta in 2010. The KPK investigated the allegation, found it was based on false data and said there was no indication Jokowi had misappropriated funds.
Governor of Jakarta
Despite disappointment from some Surakarta residents that he would not complete his second term as mayor, Jokowi ran in the 2012 Jakarta gubernatorial election and defeated the incumbent Fauzi Bowo in a runoff round.
His inner circle of advisers in Jakarta reportedly included people such as FX Hadi 'Rudy' Rudyatmo, Sumartono Hadinoto and Anggit Nugroho, who were colleagues while he was mayor of Surakarta, as well as Basuki Tjahaja Purnama ("Ahok"), his deputy as governor of Jakarta.
Jokowi continued the blusukan practice he had adopted as mayor of Surakarta by regularly visiting population centers, especially slums. During these visits, he wore simple, informal clothes and stopped at markets or walked along narrow Jakarta alleys to listen and witness firsthand issues addressed by residents, such as the price of food, housing difficulties, flooding, and transportation. Polling and media coverage suggested that his hands-on style proved very popular both in Jakarta and elsewhere across Indonesia.
After taking office, taxes and Jakarta's provincial budget increased significantly from IDR 41 trillion in 2012 to IDR 72 trillion in 2014. Both Jokowi and Ahok publicised their monthly salary and the provincial budget.
They also initiated programs aimed towards transparency, such as online taxes, e-budgeting, e-purchasing, and a cash management system.Moreover, all meetings and activities that Jokowi and Ahok attended were recorded and uploaded on YouTube.
In healthcare, Jokowi introduced a universal health care program, the 'Healthy Jakarta Card' (Kartu Jakarta Sehat, KJS). It involved an insurance program provided through state-owned insurance company PT Askes Indonesia (Persero) and a plan to regulate health charges for treatment for over 20,000 services and procedures.
The program was criticised for confusion over details of the implementation and long queues, though Jokowi defended it and counselled patience. In education, Jokowi launched the 'Smart Jakarta Card' (Kartu Jakarta Pintar, KJP) on 1 December 2012 to help needy students. It gives an allowance that can be withdrawn from ATMs for buying school needs such as books and uniforms.
His administration's other notable policies include a system of bureaucratic recruitment called lelang jabatan (literally 'auction of office position'), giving every civil servant the same opportunity to achieve a certain position by fulfilling the required qualifications, regulation of the chaotic agglomeration of street vendors in Pasar Minggu and Pasar Tanah Abang, the dredging and reservoir normalisation projects to reduce flooding, and the inauguration of long-delayed Jakarta MRT and Jakarta LRT.
As governor, Jokowi also appointed a non-Muslim 'lurah' (subdistrict chief) for the Muslim-majority subdistrict of Lenteng Agung despite protests by some residents. Former deputy governor Prijanto claimed that Widodo had carried out maladministration when abusing government certificate asset of BMW Park by formalising another expired certificate.
In 2013, Jokowi was reported to the National Commission on Human Rights over the eviction of the squatters near Pluit. In previous "political contracts", he had vowed not to evict residents to distant locations.
Jokowi met with Pluit residents and Komnas HAM to explain the evictions were necessary for restoring water catchment to reduce flooding and that families were being relocated to low-cost apartments.
Presidential candidacies
2014
Megawati Sukarnoputri nominated Jokowi to be the presidential candidate of her party. During the campaign, a social media volunteer team, JASMEV, once made a provocative statement by threatening that Islam would not be given a space in Indonesia if Jokowi won the 2014 election. The group was paid IDR 500 million to campaign for the Jokowi-Jusuf Kalla ticket during the 2014 election.
Following the release of Quick Count results from many different polls, Jokowi declared victory on 9 July. However, his opponent Prabowo Subianto also declared victory, creating confusion among the population.
On 22 July, hours before the announcement of the election results, Prabowo withdrew. Jokowi's victory was expected and realised hours later. The General Elections Commission (KPU) gave him a close victory with 53.15% of the vote (almost 71 million votes), to Prabowo's 46.85% (62 million votes), though Prabowo's camp disputed these totals.
After his victory, Jokowi stated that growing up under the authoritarian and corrupt New Order regime, he would have never expected someone with a lower-class background to become president. The New York Times reported him as saying, "now, it's quite similar to America, yeah? There is the American dream, and here we have the Indonesian dream".
Jokowi was the first Indonesian president outside the military or the political elite, and the political commentator Salim Said gave the popular view of the politician as "someone who is our neighbour, who decided to get into politics and run for president".
2019
In 2018, Jokowi announced that he would run for re-election next year. His vice president Jusuf Kalla was not eligible for another term because of the term limits set for president and vice president. Kalla had already served a five-year term as vice president during Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's first term (2004–2009).
Speculation surrounding Jokowi's choice of running mate focused on several candidates, including Mahfud MD, a former defence minister and chief justice of the Constitutional Court. In a surprise move, Jokowi announced that Ma'ruf Amin would be his running mate. Mahfud had reportedly been preparing for the vice-presidential candidacy.
Ma'ruf was selected instead following a push by several constituent parties of Jokowi's governing coalition and influential Islamic figures. Explaining his decision, Jokowi referred to Ma'ruf's extensive experience in government and religious affairs.
The KPU officially announced that the
Jokowi-Amin ticket had won the election in the early hours of 21 May 2019. The official vote tally was 85 million votes for Jokowi (55.50%) and 68 million votes for Prabowo (44.50%).
Supporters of Prabowo protested in Jakarta against the result, and it turned into a riot which left eight people dead and over 600 injured. Following the protests, Prabowo's campaign team launched a Constitutional Court lawsuit but was rejected in its entirety.
Family and personal life of Joko Widodo
Jokowi married his wife Iriana in 1986. The couple has two sons and one daughter. Their first son,
Gibran Rakabuming Raka (born 1 October 1987), studied abroad in Sydney and Singapore (at the Management Development Institute of Singapore, MDIS) and currently runs a catering and wedding-planning business in Surakarta.
Their only daughter, Kahiyang Ayu (born 20 April 1991), completed an undergraduate degree in food technology at the state-owned Sebelas Maret University in Surakarta. Their second son, Kaesang Pangarep (born 25 December 1994), completed his high school years in ACS International, Singapore, and is an online vlogger.
Jokowi has four grandchildren: a grandson and a granddaughter from Gibran (born in 2016 and 2019 respectively) and a granddaughter and a grandson from Kahiyang (born in 2018 and 2020 respectively).
Several members of Jokowi's family have declared their intentions to enter politics by running as candidates in 2020 local elections. Gibran has declared his candidacy for the mayorship of Surakarta, in addition to his son-in-law Bobby Nasution (Medan) and brother-in-law Wahyu Purwanto (Gunung Kidul Regency).
Jokowi has been described as "Muslim but broadly secular in his outlook". His statement in 2019 that religion and politics should be separated prompted a public debate on whether he was promoting secularism in the country.
In June 2013, a film titled Jokowi, depicting Jokowi's childhood and youth, was released. He expressed some objections to the film, saying that he felt his life had been a simple one and was not worthy of being adapted into a film.
According to The Economist, Jokowi "has a penchant for loud rock music" and owned a bass guitar signed by Robert Trujillo of heavy metal band Metallica which was confiscated by the KPK.
In November 2017, Danish Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen, who was on an official visit to Jakarta, gave Jokowi a Metallica Master of Puppets vinyl box set as a diplomatic gift.
It was signed by the band's drummer and co-founder, Lars Ulrich, a Danish native. Under his policy of transparency, Jokowi paid IDR 11 million ($800) out of his personal funds to claim the record, which had been declared a state asset to avoid accusations of gratification.
He has also been noted by many to be very similar in appearance to former US president Barack Obama.
Jokowi is a silat practitioner. He had been practicing Setia Hati Terate style from Persaudaraan Setia Hati Terate school since his time at junior high school and eventually mastering it. He attained first degree pendekar warga rank of the silat school on 16 November 2013.
Joko Widodo Short Data
7th President of Indonesia
Vice President Jusuf Kalla (2014–2019), Ma'ruf Amin (2019–present)
Born 21 June 1961 (age 60) Surakarta, Central Java, Indonesia
Political party PDI-P
Spouse Iriana (m. 1986)
Children Gibran Rakabuming Raka, Kahiyang Ayu, Kaesang Pangarep
Parents Widjiatno Notomiharjo (father) and Sudjiatmi (mother)
Elections 2005 mayoral, 2010 mayoral, 2012 gubernatorial, 2014 presidential (campaign, inauguration) 2019 presidential (campaign, inauguration).
Policy Bali Nine, High-speed rail, Trans-Sumatra, New capital, Sea Toll Program, Omnibus Law.
Summits
ASEAN Summit, G20 (2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2020, 2021), APEC (2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018), Presidential trips.
