Indonesia must avoid India's COVID-19 debacle

President Joko Widodo's leadership as cases rise has been less than hands-on

Avatar
20210512 Joko Widodo campaign.jpg

Joko Widodo greats his supporters during the campaign ahead the presidential election in Jakarta in April 2019: Jokowi failed to curb the economic nationalism run amok in Jakarta politics. © NurPhoto/Getty Images

William Pesek is an award-winning Tokyo-based journalist and author of "Japanization: What the World Can Learn from Japan's Lost Decades."

Indonesia is gunning for a V-shaped recovery, but that will not happen. Not until President Joko Widodo gets serious about taming the two C threats to Southeast Asia's biggest economy: COVID-19 and the crisis feedback loop Jakarta has been stuck in for more than two decades.

Sponsored Content

About Sponsored ContentThis content was commissioned by Nikkei's Global Business Bureau.