President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has won many of his citizen’s hearts with his recent prodigious output of vlogs showing all the totally normal everyday stuff he does like playing with his new baby goats or having lunch with the king of Saudi Arabia, making him not just one of Indonesia’s but one of Youtube’s biggest celebrities.
Last month ago, Jokowi decided to get more interactive with his videos by putting out a call for young people to film themselves asking him for questions using the hashtag #JokowiMenjawab (#JokowiAnswers).
Well, the first in what promises to be a series of videos in which Jokowi answers these questions has just been released, and while it doesn’t contain anything earth-shattering (unsurprisingly, his social media team didn’t pick any hardball political questions) the episode provides some amusing insights into the president’s personality, particularly his musical preferences.
One of the quirks about Jokowi that first endeared him to many young Indonesians (and foreigners) is that he was a self-professed fan of heavy metal music, particularly Metallica. So the first questioner, Evan Sihombing, decided to ask the president to name his favorite album from the legendary American metal band as well as his two favorite songs.
Jokowi confirms that when he was younger he was a big fan not just of Metallica but also bands like Nazareth, Scorpion, Guns n Roses, Lamb of God. He cited “Master of Puppets” and “One” as two great Metallica albums out of many. But he said now he enjoys more Indonesian rock bands, such as Slank and Burgerkill, mentioning that they often have lyrics that are optimistic and about pushing people to move forward.
The next question comes from 18-year-old Rangga Wiguna, who asked the president if he had ended up being a musician if he would have still ended up in the world of politics. Jokowi mentioned that if he had been in a band he would have liked to be a drummer because he really loved listening to them. But he also said that being a musician shouldn’t prevent anybody from becoming a politician. He said anybody could become a leader as long as they did it out of a genuine desire to serve and help others.
Laras Kinanti, a 13-year-old from Purbalingga, asked the president why there weren’t more songs for children and more patriotic Indonesian songs these days. Jokowi agreed that there weren’t enough of those songs these days but that it should be seen as a chance for the country’s creative industry to do their part and anybody who has the talent to create new songs.
The last question, posed by 16-year-olds Kevin and Adinda, was about how young people under the age of 17, such as themselves, could help contribute to the country’s creative industry. Jokowi replied by saying there are many opportunities in the music industry besides the music industry, such as film fashion, animation, programming etc. He cited a projection that Indonesia’s digital economy was on track to grow to 130 billion USD in the next 5 years, adding that the key to unleashing that potential was for young people to collaborate so that our creative economy could compete with other countries.
So there you have it, President Jokowi social media stars strikes again. What question would you like to see the president answer next time?
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