We need a Jokowi in 2016

The much admired Indonesian President Joko Widodo was in Manila early last week and hardly anyone noticed. It could be because “Jokowi” as he is widely known, is very low key. I am also ready to suspect that Malacanang’s propagandists purposely shrouded the Widodo visit in near secrecy because they know P-Noy will suffer in comparison.

For instance, Jokowi recently took a short flight to Singapore on Economy Class to attend his son’s graduation and he was already President of Southeast Asia’s largest country. On the other hand, P-Noy and his Palace boys are not beyond borrowing a local tycoon’s private jet (frowned upon in the US for ethical, conflict of interest reasons) even just to go to Tacloban or regional capitals covered by commercial flights.

The thing I like about Jokowi is how his origin is truly from the ordinary working class. He was a small town entrepreneur in the furniture business before he became a politician. Perhaps he woke up one day with the thought that he could do better than the jokers running the country and indeed, he did as mayor and then as governor and doing still as President.

Jokowi, like most of us, had to work for a living. He had to worry about meeting a regular payroll for his workers. That requires an ability to make money to meet his needs as well as creativity to make products good enough to satisfy his customers. He has an ability to empathize, something we haven’t really seen with P-Noy and only lately seen it with Mar.

On the other hand, P-Noy like his bff Mar Roxas, never had to work for their meals. They are both from old rich landed families, the same economic oligarchy at the root of our economic and political problems today. They are used to giving orders, getting their way all the time and being served by virtual slaves hand and foot.

As my friend Nelson Navarro observed: “The day we elect a genuine leader of the people, not of the unworthy elite is the day this country will be on the road to change.”

I watched a documentary on Jokowi by Bloomberg  reporter Haslinda Amin and it showed why this man shines. He is not just hands-on, he is also feet-wet. He didn’t hesitate to take off his shoes and wade in Jakarta flood waters to see what ails his constituents.

Some may say that’s as bad a gimmick as Mar riding a tricycle or carrying a sack of rice in the market, but it isn’t. It seemed like the most natural thing for Jokowi to do, not a gimmick at all. Jokowi reminds me of Jesse Robredo and his tsinelas. With Mar, it was obviously done for the cameras. His advertising agency thought he could be packaged like potato chips.

Jokowi, as I previously wrote here, is a good example of management by walking around. He told Ms. Amin that he spends just a few hours sitting behind a desk to clear documents. Most of the time he is out in the field seeing for himself what works and what doesn’t within his realm.

Shortly after his return from his visit to Manila and Kuala Lumpur, Jokowi made a declaration that Indonesia will stop sending its women to work as maids overseas. A story in Singapore’s Straits Times quotes Jokowi saying he will do that to preserve his country’s dignity – and is working on a target to enforce this.

“I have given Manpower Minister a target to come up with a clear roadmap on when we can stop sending female domestic workers. We should have pride and dignity,” he said in a speech at the Hanura party’s national congress in Solo, Central Java.

“There are only three countries in the world supplying domestic workers, two are in Asia and one in Africa. One of those in Asia is Indonesia. This is a matter of dignity. It was really shameful (speaking about this) during our bilateral with Malaysia,” he added.

His comments signal renewed commitment, the Straits Times reported, after Vice-President Jusuf Kalla, in November last year, gave a timeframe of five years to end the practice.

Of course, it is easy to say that, but can he make it happen? A simple ban is not going to work in an economy that makes people desperate enough to look for jobs abroad they cannot get at home.

It is likely illegal in Indonesia to curtail the rights of its citizens to travel abroad for whatever reason. Besides, poverty in Indonesia is the main driver for its women to seek employment as maids or whatever else overseas, just as it is in the Philippines.

But what made me admire Jokowi even more is his guts to set a high goal for himself. He may miss that goal within his term, but working to reach it should be inspiring.

I have yet to see a Philippine president set a bar that high. Our leaders seem to think it is enough to call them our new heroes. They don’t question the propriety of sending mothers abroad to work away from their children. No one remembers the lessons from Flor Contemplacion after all that fury over her execution.

We constantly hear of horrible cases of abuse suffered by Filipina domestic workers, like that maid who suffered burns all over her body inflicted by her Middle Eastern employer. Many are raped and are stuck in holding areas waiting for repatriation and abused too by our own officials sent there to help them.

Our government has said something about discouraging the deployment of domestic workers, but that’s just press release. POEA requires strict contracts before departure. But we constantly get reports of contract violations, confiscation of passports by employers and other such illegal acts victimizing our women.

I imagine that with the number of our desperate women, and men as well, trying to escape the poverty they suffer at home, it is easy to fall victims to human traffickers. Government efforts to protect them fall short. That’s why Jokowi’s bold assertion and determination to simply stop sending women to work as maids overseas seems bold and the right thing to do.

But a president can succeed in achieving that objective only if he is confident he can get the economy geared up to create the jobs at home. I am not familiar with Jokowi’s economic program, but unless he plans to do things that will spur a dramatic rise in investments to create those jobs, he will fail. He will look like an ordinary politician promising beyond his means.

Jokowi and P-Noy signed a joint declaration on migrant workers during the recent visit that “aims to strengthen cooperation between the two countries in the promotion and protection of the rights of migrants and migrant workers…”

But for Indonesia and the Philippines, their workers, legal and illegal, are in Malaysia. It is with Malaysia that they should seek more cooperation in protecting the rights of these women workers.

They will be up against efficient, but heartless human traffickers. Our women are being sold not just as domestic workers, but more worrisome – many are being forced into prostitution. The case of that British banker in Hong Kong who killed an Indonesian entertainer in his apartment was also reported to have a Filipina girl friend he probably also picked up in the Wan Chai red light district.

Again, Nelson Navarro best sums things up: “This policy has benefited our corrupt society and caused irreparable social costs. It goes on because government and business are complicit in building a remittance economy that benefits only them and degrades the people.

“Widodo has broken the spell of prostituting poor people for the almighty hard currencies. Can we do less and end up as the most shameful human trafficker nation of all?”

P-Noy only has a year and a half left in his term so maybe it will be the next president who we should compare with Jokowi in terms of accomplishments. For now, all we can hope is that P-Noy learned something from Jokowi during that short visit that will make him a lot more inspiring.

I know… that’s mission impossible but we can hope and dream. For 2016, we need a Jokowi or a Robredo, not the jokers now presenting themselves.

 Jojo’s nightmare

Inky Reyes posted this joke on Facebook.

Scene at VP Binay’s house –

Dra. Elenita Binay: Jojo, Jojo, wake up. You were screaming and you’re sweating heavily. What’s wrong?

VP Binay: I had a nightmare!

Dra. Binay: What was your nightmare?

VP Binay: I was campaigning in Maguindanao. It was hazy but it was like the people were telling me the elections were over and that my opponent beat me.

Dra. Binay: Why? What did they say exactly?

VP Binay: They kept shouting “Mar-wan!” “Mar-wan!”

 Boo Chanco’s e-mail address is [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @boochanco