President of Indonesia
On 20 October 2014, Joko Widodo became the seventh and current president of Indonesia.
2014 Indonesian presidential election
After the announcement, Joko Widodo stated that, growing up under the authoritarian and corrupt New Order, he would have never expected someone with a lower-class background to become president. "The New York Times" reported him as saying, "now, it's quite similar to America, yes? There is the American dream, and here we have the Indonesian dream.". Joko Widodo was the first Indonesian president to not be from the military or the political elite, and the political commentator Salim Said gave the popular view of the politician "someone who is our neighbour, who decided to get into politics and run for president".