Joko Widodo or what we usually know as Jokowi is one of the Presidents of Indonesia. President Joko Widodo becomes the seventh President of Indonesia. The name of the seventh President of Indonesia is already widely known by the Indonesian people.
However, not everyone knows about the biography of the seventh President of Indonesia. Did you know that President Jokowi is a furniture entrepreneur from Solo? How has Jokowi’s political career gone? Check out a review of Joko Widodo or Jokowi, starting from his childhood to achievements and unique facts that have been attributed to Jokowi.
Jokowi Comes From a Simple Family
Joko Widodo was born at Minulyo Hospital on June 21 1961, he has a father named Noto Mihardjo and a mother named Sujiatmi. Jokowi is the first or eldest child and has three younger sisters, namely Iit Sriyantini, Ida Yati, and Titik Relawati.
Jokowi’s father worked as a wood and bamboo seller around the banks of the Karanganyar river, Solo, so it could be said that Jokowi’s life was far from luxurious.
The Jokowi family can be said to be a family that is less well off, especially in meeting their living needs, such as having difficulty paying school fees, having difficulty finding food, and several other difficulties.
To help lighten the burden on his family, Jokowi helps his father who works as a carpenter, sometimes even after school, he helps his father to collect payments from customers who have bought wood and helps load the wood his customers have bought onto a pedicab or cart.
Jokowi married Mrs. Iriana in 1986. From that marriage, Jokowi gave birth to three children consisting of two boys and one girl. The first child was named Gibran Rakabuming Raka, the second child was named Kahiyang Ayu, and the third child was named Kaesang Pangarep.
Currently, Jokowi has four grandchildren, two grandchildren from his first child and two more grandchildren from his second child. The marriage between Gibran Rakabuming Raka and Selvi Ananda gave birth to a grandson named Jan Ethes Srinarendra and a granddaughter named La Lembah Mana.
Meanwhile, the marriage between Kahiyang Ayu and Bobby Nasution gave birth to a granddaughter named Sedah Mirah Nasution and a grandson named Al Nahyan Nasution.
Jokowi’s Childhood
As a child, Jokowi spent a lot of time at the Karanganyar river. Jokowi carried out many activities, either alone or with his friends.
Activities carried out include bathing in the river, looking for duck eggs, fishing, playing, and many more. Even though he enjoys playing or doing activities with his friends, he doesn’t forget his obligation, namely studying. Jokowi is very good at managing his time, when to play and when to study.
Jokowi’s activities when he was little were not only about playing and studying, but he also did Koran reading activities. Jokowi does not only study, play and recite the Koran, but he also carries out activities of helping his father selling wood or helping his mother take care of the house and his younger siblings.
Jokowi’s childhood could be said to be quite difficult and harsh. This was because Jokowi’s family had moved houses because their house had been evicted several times, so he and his family temporarily stayed at a friend’s house in the Gondang area.
Jokowi believes that unpleasant childhood experiences are not suffering. This is because he feels that all the unpleasant things in the past are God’s way of building and shaping his character in the future.
Jokowi’s education
Jokowi’s education started from Tirtoyoso 111 State Elementary School. This school is also known as an educational institution aimed at lower middle class people. This school is in the Banjarsari area, Solo.
Since attending elementary school, Jokowi has started to actively help reduce his family’s living costs by earning his own pocket money. Things they do include being a porter, selling, and using an umbrella motorbike taxi.
State Junior High School 1 Surakarta was the secondary education institution chosen by Jokowi after completing his basic education at State Elementary School 03 Tirtoyoso. This school is on Jalan MT Haryono 4, Surakarta.
After graduating from secondary education at State Middle School 1 Surakarta, Jokowi wanted to continue his senior secondary education at State High School 1 Surakarta, but after making maximum efforts, Jokowi failed to enter State High School 1 Surakarta and chose to continue his education at State High School 6 Surakarta.
After completing his upper secondary education, Jokowi continued his education at Gajah Mada University, Yogyakarta. While studying at Gadjah Mada University, Jokowi chose the forestry faculty majoring in wood technology. On campus, he learned more about wood, from wood use, wood structure to wood technology.
Jokowi studied wood technology because he has been very close to the world of woodworking since childhood. Jokowi graduated from Gajah Mada University in 1985 with a thesis title “Study of Plywood Consumption Patterns in Final Use in Surakarta Municipality”.
Apart from being registered as a student, Jokowi is also registered as a member of “Mapala Silvagama”. “Mapala Silvagama” is a semi-autonomous organization located at Gadjah Mada University.
Jokowi Was Once a Furniture Entrepreneur
After graduating from college, Jokowi worked at a State-Owned Enterprise (BUMN), namely PT Kertas Kraft Aceh and was given an assignment in the Merkusii Pine Forest area in the Gayo Highlands, Central Aceh. However, Jokowi worked at PT Kertas Kraft Aceh for a short time and decided to return to his hometown.
Arriving in his hometown, Jokowi had the desire or determination to do business in the woodworking sector. This wood business started from his uncle’s company, called CV Roda Jati.
Until 1988, he dared to start his own wood business. The business name Jokowi gave to his wood business was CV Rakabu, the name was taken from his first child, Gibran Rakabuming Raka.
Jokowi started his business with debt capital. To get capital for his business, Jokowi guaranteed his parents’ land certificate to the bank in order to obtain a loan from the bank.
The choices and decisions taken by Jokowi can be said to be quite brave because if the timber business fails then the certificate cannot be returned. However, because of Jokowi’s persistence, hard work and optimism, his business was successfully built and has survived to this day.
After getting business capital, Jokowi started his furniture business by renting a fairly simple place, namely a place made of woven bamboo. When he first started his business, Jokowi was assisted by three workers processing wood, making construction and painting furniture.
Jokowi’s strong determination makes him work harder and work from morning to morning. In other words, the time Jokowi spends working exceeds normal working hours.
Sometimes, he even sleeps in the factory just to finish his work. With this hard work, Jokowi’s furniture began to show quite advanced results or progress in his furniture business. The progress that occurred in Jokowi’s furniture business occurred after three years of struggle and hard work to develop this furniture business.
When he first started his career as a furniture exporter, Jokowi began actively participating in furniture exhibitions held from Singapore, the Middle East, Europe, to America. The first exhibition that Jokowi participated in was an exhibition held in Jakarta.
Read Also : Biography of Ir. Soekarno : the Proclaimer of Indonesian Independence
Jokowi’s Political Career
Jokowi’s experience in a political career can be said to be very different from his career in the world of furniture business. Jokowi has experience in the furniture business for 23 years. Meanwhile, in the world of politics, it could be said that Jokowi does not have much experience.
Jokowi’s early political career began in 1998 by joining the world of practical politics and the party he chose was the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) led by Megawati Soekarnoputri. This party became Jokowi’s political vehicle, from being Mayor of Solo to becoming President of the Republic of Indonesia.
1. Become Mayor of Solo
In 2005, the Regional Head Election (Pilkada) for the Mayor of Solo was held. Jokowi is a candidate for Mayor of Solo with partner FX Hadi Rudyatmo. The two candidates were supported by the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and the National Awakening Party (PKB).
From that election, Joko Widodo and FX Hadi Rudyatmo received 36.62% of the vote and won the regional election.
Under his leadership, Jokowi was able to make the city of Solo more neatly organized, and the city of Solo even became one of the study materials at domestic and foreign universities.
Not only that, during his leadership, Jokowi also introduced the Batik Solo Trans bus and made the city of Solo the host of several international events.
On April 26 2010, Joko Widodo and FX Hadi Rudyatmo became Mayor and Deputy Mayor of Solo as incumbent candidates. At that time, the votes obtained by Joko Widodo and FX Hadi Rudyatmo could be said to be quite surprising because they received 90.09% of the votes.
The number of votes they obtained almost broke the MURI record. In the MURI record, the pair of Herman Sutrisno and Akhmad Dimyati got the most votes, as Mayor of Banjar, where they are also the incumbent pair and the votes obtained were 92.19% in 2008.
2. Become Governor of DKI Jakarta
After successfully becoming Mayor of Solo, Jokowi continued his political career by running for Governor of DKI Jakarta. Initially Jokowi was hesitant to take part in the gubernatorial election, but he was convinced by the leader of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), namely Megawati Soekarnoputri.
At that time, Jokowi needed 9 more seats to become a candidate for Governor of DKI Jakarta, so the leader of the Greater Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) carried out political lobbying with the PDI-P party. After conducting political lobbying, the Gerindra party gave a candidate for deputy governor of DKI Jakarta, namely Basuki Tjahaja Purnama.
At that time, more precisely in 2012, Joko Widodo and Basuki Tjahaja Purnama were the unfavored couple. This is because they have to face incumbent candidates, namely Fauzi Bowo and Nachrowi Ramli.
However, in the end the pair Joko Widodo and Basuki Tjahaja Purnama succeeded in defeating the pair Fauzi Bowo and Nachrowi Ramli and became Governor and Deputy Governor of DKI Jakarta.
There are several policies implemented by Jokowi while leading Jakarta, such as row villages, the Healthy Jakarta Card (KJS), the Smart Jakarta Card (KJP).
3. Became President of the Republic of Indonesia
After several years as Governor of DKI Jakarta, Jokowi was trusted by his party to continue his political career and become a candidate for President of the Republic of Indonesia. 2014 is the year of the General Election (Pemilu) for the President of the Republic of Indonesia. In that year Jokowi and Jusuf Kalla became presidential candidates and vice presidential candidates for the 2014 election.
After the vote counting process had been completed, it was stated that the Jokowi pair had received 53.15% of the votes. There are several policies made by Joko Widodo when he was President, such as the Healthy Indonesia Card (KIS), Smart Indonesia Card (KIP), and others.
In the next general election, Jokowi ran as incumbent with a different partner, namely KH. Ma’ruf Amin. In this election, Joko Widodo competed with Prabowo Subianto and Sandiaga Uno and the Joko Widodo pair managed to win this election by getting 55.50% of the vote.
Read Also : Biography of Soeharto: 2nd President of Indonesia
Jokowi’s Awards and Unique Facts
Jokowi’s socialization ability in getting support from the community earned him an award as Marketer of the Year 2012 held by the Markplus Conference 2013, Marketing: Info Innovation and Technology.
As many people already know, Jokowi’s real name is Joko Widodo. However, do you know how the title Jokowi was first given to Joko Widodo?
When he was a furniture export entrepreneur, Joko Widodo had a client or customer who liked to buy his furniture, named Michl Romaknan from France.
Long story short, this customer from France found it difficult to distinguish the name Joko Widodo from the name Joko-Joko who works in the same profession, namely as a furniture exporter.
Michl looked for a way to differentiate Joko Widodo’s name from other Joko-Joko and Michl gave the name “Jokowi” so that he could differentiate it from the other Joko-Joko names.
Until now, the name Jokowi is better known to the public than the name Joko Widodo. This is because the name Jokowi has its own uniqueness and is easier for many people to hear and remember.
Read Also : Biography of WR Supratman: The Creator of the Song Indonesia Raya
Conclusion
Jokowi always tries to provide a sense of security and comfort to his younger siblings so that he becomes a role model for his three younger sisters. This feeling of security and comfort is demonstrated by being kind and protective of his younger siblings.
Not only that, Joko Widodo or Jokowi also really enjoys helping his mother to care for and look after his younger siblings, such as taking them to school, helping with homework, and so on.
It could be said that the furniture business owned by Jokowi is a business that is not obtained easily and requires hard work to build the business to become more advanced.
Ups and downs in building this business are common. It could be said that the key to developing a business in a more advanced direction requires courage and enthusiasm to get back up again when you have to fall many times.
Jokowi started his political career in 1998 and chose PDI-P as his political vehicle. So in 2005-2010 he succeeded in becoming Mayor of Solo, then continued his political career becoming Governor of DKI Jakarta in 2012 and from 2014 until now he became President of the Republic of Indonesia.