In a move that some from the opposing political side might call “pencitraan” (doing something just to improve one’s public image), President Joko Widodo reignited his penchant for blusukan (impromptu field visits), which he was most famous for when he was the governor of Jakarta, by going on a train ride in the city on Wednesday.
After handing out Smart Indonesia Cards (KIP) and promoting his administration’s Hopeful Family Program (PKH) in South Jakarta, Jokowi headed home to the Presidential Palace in Bogor, West Java using the KRL Commuterline. He departed in the evening from Tanjung Barat Station in South Jakarta.
As anyone who has gone on the KRL Commuterline is probably painfully familiar with, KRL Commuterline trains going towards Jakarta’s satellite cities on weekday evenings can be hellishly packed. Interestingly, as reported by Detik, Jokowi rode the train without being heavily guarded by the presidential security detail (Paspampres) — at least not as much as usual. He was only accompanied by Paspampres commander Major General Maruli Simanjuntak, at his own request, to “blend in easily with the people”. Unlike most KRL riders, though, Jokowi was inevitably asked for selfies by his fellow passengers.
When asked about the ride today in Lampung, Jokowi said he wanted to know what it was like on board the popular KRL Commuterline during rush hour, after having previously taken the train outside of rush hours.
“Someone said to me when I attended the event, ‘Pak if you want to try KRL [Commuterline], try riding it between 6 am to 8 am in the morning and 4 pm to 6 pm in the evening’. I took the train spontaneously, I just hopped on at the Tanjung Barat station near Lenteng Agung,” Jokowi told reporters today, as quoted by Detik.
Aside from experiencing rush hour on the train, Jokowi also received a lot of input from KRL passengers on how to improve the service. Some of the passengers asked for additional trains, or more cars on each train at least, in order to alleviate some of the cramped conditions during rush hour.
On that, Jokowi suggested that one solution could be to build elevated train tracks to reduce train headway, though the president recognizes that that would be an expensive fix.
