TIME Magazine: And the Nominee is... Jokowi

Liputan6.com, Jakarta President Joko Widodo or Jokowi is nominated by TIME Magazine as ‘Person of The Year’. He is the first Indonesian to be considered and chosen as one of the candidates that has successfully attracted TIME Magazine readers’ attention. 

In the candidate polling page, TIME wrote as quoted by Liputan6.com on (Friday 11/21/2014), that Jokowi’s road to Presidency was exceptional as he did not come from a largely bourgeois elite party in the government nor was he a descendant of any Indonesian prominent figure. This fact about him surely calls for a worldwide awareness.

Other nominees in TIME Magazine include The United States President Barack Obama, Russian President Vladimir Putin, China’s President Xi Jinping, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and The U.S Secretary of State John Kerry. In addition to that, Former U.S Secretary of State and wife of Former President Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton is also considered as one of the nominees. The candidates’ chosen went from political figures to A- list celebrities such as Taylor Swift and Kim Kardashian.

Candidates chosen by TIME Magazine have their own unique quality and characteristics that make them a qualified figure to be nominated. So far, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi dominates the number one poll and followed by Vladimir Putin and John Kerry filling in the second and third position.

The polling remains open until December 6 2014. The results will be officially announced by the TIME’s Chief Editor Nancy Gibbs on NBC’s Today Show December 8 2014.

Jokowi has also painted the front page of previous edition of TIME Magazine on October 27 2014 with a close-up face titled ‘A New Hope’. In an exclusive interview with TIME Magazine earlier, Jokowi shared how many people are relying heavily on him for change. He is for the people, the symbol of hope. It his primary duty to keep the promises he made to the people.

“It is dangerous to walk away from the promises I have previously made to my people. If I don’t give the people what they want, it will become a serious problem,” explained Jokowi in an article by TIME Magazine entitled ‘The New Face of Indonesian Democracy’.

In that article too, Jokowi promised he would fight and gradually abolish corruption, reducing subsidies on fuel (BBM) and enforcing the law more firmly in the tax sector.

“By giving worldwide audience a genuine portrayal that Indonesia has changed, that we are now law- abiding citizens, we can create a place where investors are willing to come and work together with us,” said Jokowi to TIME Magazine. (Akp/Ein)