JOKO WIDODO
(Jokowi)
The President had instituted a policy whereby convicted pedophiles would be chemically castrated. He Indonesian Medical Society however voted overwhelmingly that such a practice would be unethical and immoral, and it would be improper for any doctor to participate in such a program. Jokowi was asked by a BBC interviewer what he would do about his new policy if the doctors refused to carry it out. This was his response. His program is illustrative of a reaction of many political leaders when faced with a problem that concerned most people but for which there was no known specific solution. They reach out for ideas regardless of how draconian they were or how extensively they violate human rights—even when they themselves know there is no evidence that the new idea will be successful. If there is a problem and a national leader does not appear to try and do something, he/she is often accused of not caring rather than the reality of not taking a chance with “solutions” that will do some harm and may not do any good.
Joko Widodo, also known as Jokowi, is an Indonesian politician and businessman who is the 7th and current president of Indonesia. Elected in July 2014 as the first president not to come from an elite political or military background, he was previously the Mayor of Surakarta from 2005 to 2012 and the Governor of Jakarta from 2012 to 2014. Prior to his political career, he was an industrialist and businessman.
