President Joko “Jokowi“ Widodo, wearing traditional Betawi attire, prays on Aug. 16, 2024, after delivering his State of the Nation Address during the annual People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) plenary session at the Senayan legislative complex in Jakarta. - Photo: AFP/Bagus Indahono/Pool
JAKARTA: Scores of social media users have started referring to President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo by his birth name Mulyono, amid growing opposition to the outgoing leader, who is believed to be behind the country’s backsliding democracy.
Mulyono, which means “noble”, is quite a popular name among Javanese people, but the name did not seem to bring good luck to Jokowi.
Because little Mulyono fell sick quite frequently, his parents decided to change his name to Joko Widodo, with Joko meaning “young man” and Widodo “prosperous”.
There is a common belief among Javanese people that names determine someone’s fortunes and misfortunes.
Recently, netizens have referred to Jokowi by his birth name to express their anger with the President, who has been widely accused of abusing his power to solidify his political dynasty.
Some have called for the use Jokowi’s birth name instead, believing that this might “speed up his downfall”.
Protests have been popping up in major cities across the country over the past week following the House of Representatives’ controversial plan to amend the prevailing Regional Elections Law and change the age limit for aspiring candidates.
The protests were accompanied by fury on social media directed at Jokowi, who stood to gain from proposed changes that would allow his youngest son Kaesang Pangarep to participate in Central Java’s regional head elections, among other things.
Last year, the Constitutional Court, then led by Jokowi’s brother-in-law Anwar Usman, changed the age limit for candidates in the elections law to make way for Jokowi’s eldest son Gibran Rakabuming Raka to run for vice president.
"We can speed up his downfall. Starting from now we have to call him Mulyono, the name he had when he was a sickly child.
"The more people call him Mulyono, the quicker bad fortune will befall him," user @RedPhoenix wrote on social media platform X.
Another user @terrifiesme wrote "Mulyono bin Widjiatno Notomihardjo, you will perish.
"I will pray for your downfall every single day. You will not know a moment of peace until the end of time, amen."
The term "Mulyono" has been trending on X for the past few days and had been shared more than 163,000 times as of Tuesday (Aug 27).
University students who protested the revision of the Regional Elections Law in Surabaya, East Java on Friday, also brought banners that refer to Jokowi by his birth name.
"Oppose Mulyono and his cronies," one banner said.
Indonesian lawmakers decided to cancel plans to ratify the Regional Elections Law on Thursday following the protests while Jokowi has promised not to issue a government regulation in lieu of law (Perppu) to change the election rules. - The Jakarta Post/ANN
