Jokowi hints at choice of successor for Indonesia’s next president with ‘fully white-haired’ remark

‘Look at the leader’s hair too, if it’s fully white, that means they are thinking about the people,’ President Joko Widodo told a rally in Jakarta

Ganjar Pranowo is the only presidential hopeful with a full head of white hair among the most popular contenders for the next elections in 2024

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Ganjar Pranowo, the current governor of Central Java and one of the presidential hopefuls looking to run in 2024. Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 1:03pm, 28 Nov 2022

Indonesian President Joko Widodo has urged his supporters to vote for a “fully white-haired” leader, his most upfront show of support yet for a presidential hopeful.

“Look at the leader’s hair too, if it’s fully white, that means they are thinking about the people,” Jokowi, as the president is popularly known, said to his almost 150,000 supporters gathered at a rally in Jakarta.

Central Java Governor Ganjar Pranowo is the only presidential hopeful with a full head of white hair among the most popular contenders for the 2024 elections. Former Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan and Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto round up the top three.

While Baswedan and Prabowo have declared their plans to campaign, Pranowo has mostly kept mum. Presidential candidates need to have the support of parties representing at least 20 per cent of seats in parliament, and the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle or PDIP – the party backing Pranowo and Jokowi – has refrained from throwing its support behind anyone.

Joko Widodo pictured with Megawati Sukarnoputri at an event in 2019. The PDIP chairwoman, who is also a former Indonesian president, is widely believed to want her daughter to be her party’s candidate in 2024. Photo: EPA-EFE

PDIP Chairwoman Megawati Sukarnoputri is widely seen as expecting her daughter to be the party’s candidate despite her low popularity. PDIP has 22 per cent of seats.