JAKARTA — A political outsider defeated the incumbent governor in an election to
run Indonesia's sprawling capital on Thursday, exit polls showed—and the victor
now faces an electorate tired of waiting for Jakarta's problems to be fixed.
The apparent win for Joko Widodo,
who campaigned in a checkered work shirt with the sleeves rolled up, fulfilled
expectations of businessmen and analysts that voters in the world's largest
Muslim democracy are tiring of patronage politics. Even as Indonesia's 6.5%
annual growth raises expectations, Jakarta's persistent corruption and
insufficient infrastructure prevent it from meeting its central role in the
country's success story.
The aspiring middle class that is
pouring new cars onto a road system that hasn't expanded since the 1990s is
increasingly impatient for improvements, said Sandiaga Uno, 42 years old,
president-director of the private-equity fund Saratoga Investments and a star
of the country's younger generation of entrepreneurs.
"They want it instantly.
They will be loud about it," Mr. Uno said. "As a government, that is
a problem. They need to respond instantly to the needs of the middle
class."
Mr. Widodo, 51, is a former
businessman who ran a furniture manufacturing and export business. He refused
to accept a salary when he became mayor of the central Java city of Solo, and
his corruption-free image was burnished when he refurbished the traditional
market—nerve center to small merchants and shoppers—with relatively little
disruption to stallholders.
His reputation, as a popular
politician who could get things done, spread to Jakarta. Exit polls showed Mr.
Widodo getting about 53% of the vote, to 47% for incumbent Fauzi Bowo in the
runoff election, which was required after no candidate won an outright majority
in the first round on July 11. An official count won't be completed for days.
If early results are confirmed,
Mr. Widodo and his running mate, Basuk Tjahaja Purnama, will be sworn in on
Oct. 4. Indonesia's exit polls have an accurate track record and the results
were outside the margins of error.
"We want to work together in
unity to build a better Jakarta," Mr. Widodo told supporters after the
exit-poll results were broadcast. "While waiting for the official results,
I will continue to visit thousands of people in the neighborhoods in Jakarta
whom I still want to meet."
Jakarta's governor is effectively
the third-most-powerful politician in the country, after the president and vice
president, given the city's place in the country's economy. Mr. Bowo, a member
of the traditional elite who spent five years as deputy governor and five more
in the top job, tried to come to grips with its traffic snarls by creating
dedicated bus lanes and encouraging motorists to carry more passengers. But he
was unable to launch a subway or elevated rail system, a dream of residents for
years. Nor was he able to speed up a bureaucracy that, for example, can take 90
days or more to grant a business license.
Mr. Widodo has pledged to use his
mandate to force changes. His program is built around his reputation for
honesty and vows to end alleged corruption, including in public procurement.
The sentiment for more-responsive
government had been building since President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's
election in 2004. His administration has created an environment for stability
that drew investors to Indonesia in significant numbers for the first time
since 1998, when longtime dictator Suharto was forced out amid bloody street
protests during the Asian financial crisis. A series of short-lived, stumbling
governments followed.
"What's different is that
for once the voters have a genuine candidate that has credibility on issues of
clean government and has communications skills," said Kevin O'Rourke, a
Jakarta-based political analyst.
The election results will be
studied for clues to the 2014 election to succeed Mr. Yudhoyono. The winning
ticket was supported by the current presidential front-runner, Pabowo Subianto,
a former general who was accused of human-rights abuses during the rule of Suharto,
who at the time was his father-in-law. He has since established himself as a
businessman.
The campaign took a nasty turn in
its final days, most notably when Mr. Bowo's running mate, Nachrowi Ramli,
spoke during a televised debate in a singsong accent that many saw as mocking
Mr. Purnama's Chinese ancestry. Mr. Purnama accused Mr. Bowo of racism against
ethnic Chinese, who have been the targets of violent pogroms in Indonesia's
history. Mr. Bowo's camp denied that any racism was intended.
Yayu Yuniar contributed to this
article.
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