REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) brushed aside allegations of any friction in his relations with Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan. He confirmed that they shared good ties.
"People think that I and Mr. Governor of Jakarta have a problem. In fact, I meet him every day. I am accustomed to communicating with him. Do not think that only because of different political choices, we do not speak with each other," he stated while handing over land certificates to some three thousand residents at the Pasar Minggu Sports Stadium in South Jakarta on Friday.
"Do not spread allegations of our friendship being disrupted because our biggest asset is harmony and brotherhood. Indeed, Allah has endowed us with differences," he remarked.
Both Jokowi and Anies were close friends during the 2014 presidential election campaign. Jokowi appointed Anies as education and culture minister in 2014 and later dismissed him from the post in 2016.
After being dismissed from the post, Anies ran for the Jakarta gubernatorial race and won it in 2017.
Jokowi further said he had visited 34 provinces and some 400 districts across Indonesia since he took office in 2014. All of them have diverse natural resources, he added.
"However, over the past four years, I have been patient. Once my child showed me a picture of outlawed PKI (Indonesian communist party) leader D.N. Aidit speaking before me and I prayed to Allah for patience. I only told a story. I do not get angry, but why do you look tense?" he told the residents.
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