Blog #3 - Governor at Home on the Streets

Technology is a good way to connect with the world but it still leaves the gap between technological connections and intimate connections and can ultimately shape your chances to succeed in governmental parties including a presidential election. In the article this week a Governor by the name of Joko Widodo is stepping out of the normal roles as a government official and into the streets of Jakarta, Indonesia. Instead of coming into the position as governor and forgetting about the people who voted him in he goes out into the streets and speaks to the voters. Joko talks to the people about his programs and they give their ideas and he tries to incorporate their ideas into his programs. Joko may be in a good run for presidency with his tactics of reaching out to the community. The people of Jakarta, Indonesia see him as a beginning to the end of corruption within the government. Joko invests his time into two of the major problems that an average person encounters daily life which is traffic and flooding. Traffic was assessed by providing the local street vendors who were trying to make a living a place where they can do so out of the way of traffic and flooding was approached by relocating the 7,000 poor families who were placed in low cost public housing that was in a danger zone and dredging the reservoir to lessen the chance of flooding.

Joko’s tactics includes lots of face to face connection to the people that he essentially serves as governor which allows for the voters to be able to have upward mobility and be able to have a chance to live comfortably. By solving problems such as flooding and traffic those who were placed in the areas now, which are people who are mostly poor have to chance to go forward. Joko is putting in place modern ideas to fight back on the traditional ideas that exist in society. Giving the people a sense of hope for the future creates community solidarity and class consciousness within the community. Technology would not have been able to do this because technology has no face. Trust and hope is becoming synonymous with Joko’s face and presence within the streets of Jakarta, Indonesia.

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/26/world/asia/in-indonesia-a-governor-at-home-on-the-streets.html?pagewanted=2&ref=todayspaper