As Indonesia grows hotter for the upcoming presidential election in 2019, netizens grow more nitpicking on every move that each candidate makes. This time the heat is coming for Joko Widodo, the current president, who just opened the prestige sports events Asian Games 2018 on August 18, 2018.
In the Opening Ceremony held in Gelora Bung Karno stadion in Jakarta, a VT of Jokowi, as he's dearly addressed by the public, riding a Yamaha FZ1 motorbike to avoid traffic jam caused by crowds in Jakarta was played. Then, Jokowi was shown doing a jump and stoppie with his bike on the 4 minutes and 40 seconds long video before his entrance for the ceremony. It looks pretty cool, somewhat like an action movie.
There comes the nitpicking from the netizens, who clearly show that they won't choose him in the upcoming election. They criticized that the bike riding was just a show-off and clearly a way to trick people because he was using stuntman and not doing it himself. Some even accused him of using the video as a mean for his political campaign. Aside from those netizens, the general sentiments are positive as many applauded the president for the video.
Wishnutama Kusubandio, Creative Director of Asian Games 2018 Opening and Closing Ceremony and Founder slash CEO of .NET Mediatama Televisi, stated that the VT is a pure creative production and unrelated to the political campaign and situation in Indonesia. He emphasized that the video was produced as a part of the entertainment for the Asian Games 2018, and Joko Widodo is part of the entertainment, too.
“This is unrelated to the (political) campaign because I am not interested in politic,” Wishnutama said that because Jokowi is a fun and chill guy, many ideas could be explored. In the end, the idea for Jokowi riding the bike came from himself when he was talking with the president. He added that the making of the video wasn't easy because it's a surprise.
And, a nice surprise it was. Despite Jokowi's motorbike controversy among Indonesian netizens, the Opening Ceremony of Asian Games 2018 reaps praises for its grandness.
Read more: 2018 Asian Games Opening Ceremony Presents Spectacular Performances
Asian Games 2018 is held on Jakarta and Palembang, from August 18 until September 2. Meanwhile Asian Para Games 2018 will be held later on October 8 until October 16.
Source: tempo.co, liputan6.com, detik.com,