Jokowi Likens Presidential Candidacy with Aircraft Pilots

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo emphasized the importance of observing the traits of presidential and vice-presidential candidates during an electoral campaign. Jokowi then compared this situation to a situation where people listen to two different pilots enticing customers to come aboard.

"The first pilot would say something like this to be chosen. He would say 'I will abide by international flight laws and I will fly at the altitude of 30 thousand feet," said the President at the Golkar Party 58th anniversary event on Friday, October 21, 2022. 

Jokowi then gave another example of what the other pilot might say to better attract passengers, "All would-be passengers will be seated in business class. Each and every one of you. And there will be discounts for the airfare."

In his analogy, he asserted the importance of the public being able to distinguish between logic and promises that are too good to be true.  

"The offer would not make sense, business class upgrades, and discounted airfares. That is really interesting but just does not make sense," said Jokowi. 

The President – who will serve his two terms in office as the head of state in 2024 – did not elaborate on who the subjects are behind his 'pilot analogy' and only said that he felt the urge to recite the story after reading a National Daily article.

"Please interpret that yourself, because ladies and gentlemen, the President is similar to a pilot, there are a lot of passengers, all Indonesian people and the presidential election chooses the pilot and co-pilot. This is not easy right now," Jokowi stated.

So far, there are several individuals who have declared themselves ready to run in the 2024 presidential election. They include Anies Baswedan who has been openly backed by the NasDem Party, Prabowo Subianto who is endorsed by the Party he leads, the Gerindra Party, Airlangga Hartarto who is endorsed by the Golkar Party, Muhaimin Iskandar who is endorsed by PKB, and Ganjar Pranowo who is promoted by the Golkar Party and Indonesian Solidarity Party (PSI).

Despite the various public declaration for the 2024 presidential election, none of the aforementioned potential presidential candidates have definitively confirmed that they would run for the 2024 Presidential Election. 

M JULNIS FIRMANSYAH

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