Jokowi (centre) among a crowd of onlookers during a price inspection visit to Dukuh Kupang Market in Surabaya, East Java on Sept 20. - Antara
JAKARTA: President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo intends to return to his Central Java hometown of Surakarta on Sunday (Oct 20), immediately after the inauguration of Prabowo Subianto and related events in Jakarta to mark the transition of power.
The outgoing President said he expected an uneventful day in the city where he was born, raised and made his debut in politics as mayor nearly two decades ago.
“I’m planning to go straight home [to Surakarta], nothing else. I’ll be hopping on a plane, [taking off] and going home,” Jokowi said on Wednesday evening after visiting his newborn granddaughter at a Jakarta hospital.
“There won’t be any events [in Surakarta]. My family is either living in Medan or in Jakarta,” said Jokowi, who has filed the necessary paperwork to change his place of residence prior to moving back to his hometown.
Jokowi steps down from his two-term, decade-long presidency on Oct 20 to pass the baton to the country’s eighth president Prabowo, who won the February race by a landslide alongside Jokowi’s eldest son Gibran Rakabuming Raka.
Communications and Information Minister Budi Arie Setiadi, who also chairs Projo, a prominent group of the outgoing President’s supporters, said Jokowi and several members of his family would fly either flag carrier Garuda Indonesia or its low-cost subsidiary Citilink after the inauguration of Prabowo and Gibran.
"He will fly commercial from Halim at around 3pm," Budi Arie said on Wednesday, as quoted by Kompas.com, referring to Halim Perdanakusuma International Airport in East Jakarta.
Supporters of the outgoing and incoming presidents plan to parade Prabowo through Jakarta after his inauguration and send off Jokowi at the airport, according to Immanuel Ebenezer, head of the Prabowo Mania supporters group.
Jokowi has said repeatedly that he plans to exit politics once he steps down and retire in Surakarta, though some still speculate that he harbours an ambition to be an advisor to his successor’s administration.
At a press briefing earlier this month in East Kalimantan, the President said he had shipped most of his personal belongings to Surakarta from Bogor Palace in West Java.
Located around an hour’s drive from the presidential palace compound in Jakarta, Jokowi decided to take up residence in Bogor Palace throughout his presidency.
"More than 70 per cent of the [items] have been boxed up and [sent] to Solo," Jokowi said, referring to the city by its more popular name, especially among its denizens.
Jokowi said he would also be transporting his herd of goats to Surakarta, for tending to in his spare time after leaving office.
"The goats have not been brought to Surakarta. I used to have five, but now it's 43," he added.
His two custom motorcycles, a Royal Enfield Bullet 350 and a bright green Kawasaki W175, reportedly arrived in the city this week.
Jokowi has been on a final, whirlwind nationwide tour over the past few weeks to mark the last leg of his presidency, bidding farewell to the people and apologising for any shortcomings during his 10 years in office.
He also inspected traditional markets and inaugurated new infrastructure, the most recent on Wednesday, when he opened two new toll roads in North Sumatra, the most populous province outside Java where his son-in-law Bobby Nasution is running for governor. - The Jakarta Post/ANN
