Joko Widodo is considering extending his term in office

WHO CAN forget that moment, eight years ago, when a slight former furniture salesman with a winning grin rose to the presidency of Indonesia? Joko Widodo, known as Jokowi, had a modest upbringing in the small city of Solo in Central Java. He had become that city’s mayor, from where his reputation for rolling up his sleeves and fixing problems had propelled him to the governorship of Jakarta, the country’s sprawling capital, and then to the presidential palace. A man of the people, he connected with voters in the markets and back alleys. For the first time, a ruler did not hail from the army or the country’s elites. And so, in the story of Indonesia’s democratisation, Jokowi’s election in 2014 marked a decisive break from the era of Suharto, the dictator whose regime had crumbled in 1998.

And who can fail now to notice ominous parallels emerging with the late strongman, who in effect abolished politics, co-opting the army along the way? Jokowi’s second term ends in 2024, after which he has to step down. Yet Jokowi’s powerful henchmen, if not yet the man himself, muse aloud about his staying on by altering the constitution to extend his term by three years. Why, asks Luhut Panjaitan, a minister and sidekick, go to the unnecessary expense of elections? Why risk (unspecified) election violence? Besides, argues the former general of the Suharto era, calls for Jokowi to stay abound on social media. Mr Luhut says he and others are merely “trying to accommodate the aspirations of the public from this big data”.