JAKARTA: Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo will kick off a fresh term on Sunday, following a wave of crises and with Jakarta under heavy security days after Islamist militants tried to assassinate his top security minister. Widodo, known as Jokowi – a popular, heavy-metal-music loving former businessman from outside the political and military elite – was hailed as Indonesia’s answer to Barack Obama when he was first elected in 2014 to lead the world’s third-biggest democracy. Recent protests across the archipelago of 260 million were among the biggest student rallies since mass demonstrations toppled the Suharto dictatorship in 1998. Jokowi’s new term also comes against the backdrop of fears that Indonesia’s two-decades of democratic reforms are being eroded. Three students died in the unrest.

Source: New Strait Times October 20, 2019 01:30 UTC