What Jokowi’s inglorious exit means for Indonesia

JOKO WIDODO is leaving Indonesia’s presidency less creditably than he entered it. A decade ago the former furniture salesman, popularly known as Jokowi, swept to power on a promise to defy the elites who had stage-managed the world’s third-biggest democracy since the fall of the dictator Suharto in 1998. But instead of beating the power brokers, Jokowi (pictured centre-left) has joined them.

In the run-up to an election due on February 14th, the outgoing president has thrown his weight behind Prabowo Subianto (pictured centre-right), a former general and son-in-law of Suharto, who has an appalling human-rights record and a professed ambivalence towards democracy. Jokowi’s eldest son is Mr Prabowo’s running-mate—courtesy of Jokowi’s brother-in-law, who, as chief justice of Indonesia’s highest court, lifted an age limit standing in his 36-year-old nephew’s way.