TIL Desk/World/Jakarata/ Indonesian President Joko Widodo, who rose from poverty and pledged to champion democracy, fight entrenched corruption and modernize the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation, was sworn in on October 20 for his second and final five-year term with a pledge to take bolder actions.
Army troops and police, along with armoured vehicles, firetrucks and ambulances, were deployed across the vast capital, Jakarta, and major roads were closed in a departure from the more relaxed atmosphere of the popular Widodo’s 2014 inauguration. An October 10 knife attack by an Islamic militant couple that wounded the country’s security minister set off a security crackdown.
Known for his down-to-earth style, Mr. Widodo, 58, opted for an austere ceremony at the heavily guarded Parliament without the festive parade that transported him after his inauguration five years ago on a horse-drawn carriage in downtown Jakarta, where he was then cheered on by thousands of waving supporters.
