LENTERAMERAH – For the first time in Indonesia’s political history, a sitting president has faced a lawsuit over a fake diploma. While such cases are common on the grassroots level—during local elections for village heads or even neighborhood leaders—this is unprecedented at the presidential level.
We won’t rehash the authenticity debate surrounding the fake diploma. That’s been thoroughly covered elsewhere. What’s more revealing is the erosion of a symbol—an intangible aura that once defined the stature of Indonesia’s past leaders.
With Soekarno, Habibie, and Gus Dur, the symbolism of statesmanship was clear and undeniable. Even Megawati and Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono embodied it with dignity. But despite ruling for a full decade, Jokowi never truly acquired that symbolic authority—a moral presence that lingers beyond office.
This has little to do with infrastructure projects or economic growth. It’s not even about the controversial Constitutional Court decision (No. 90/PUU-XXI/2023) that paved the way for his son’s ascent to the vice presidency.
The question now is: why, after two terms in office, is a president still embroiled in allegations as degrading as a fake diploma?
From Popular President to Absent Statesman
Becoming president is a matter of election. Becoming a statesman is a matter of moral authority. Jokowi may have captured the public’s heart, but not its soul. While the heart is emotional and temporary, the soul embodies identity, values, and legacy.
Jokowi never ignited the collective imagination. He managed projects but not the nation’s destiny. In the end, when the fake diploma issue emerged, it became less about documents and more about symbolic eligibility.
History seems to have rendered its verdict: Jokowi remains a micro-level figure in a macro leadership role. This narrative continues to live on because a symbolic void remains unfilled—a void that previous presidents managed to occupy with grace and gravitas.
True statesmen don’t rely on office or title. They emanate dignity through words and silence alike. Megawati and Yudhoyono, for instance, preserved their reverence without spectacle.
Jokowi, meanwhile, leaves behind memories not of vision, but of maneuvering—especially around constitutional constraints for his family. His legacy includes mounting national debt and a string of unresolved issues that now fall to President Prabowo Subianto.
In that light, the fake diploma controversy has morphed into a reflection of public disillusionment—not about facts, but about stature. For many, he simply didn’t rise high enough to be considered above such petty matters.
Unable to Rise Above the Noise
The president’s move to report the allegations to the police did not silence the controversy—it only deepened it. By engaging with the accusation directly, Jokowi lowered himself into the mud of public dispute.
Instead of responding with wisdom, he reacted with legal force—as if power over institutions could replace moral clarity. A true statesman would have risen above, addressing even a trivial issue with calm restraint.
This episode reveals the one thing Jokowi never built: a symbolic identity as a national figure beyond politics. And in times of disruption, symbols often matter more than bricks or budgets.
Whether the fake diploma is genuine or fabricated, its resonance is real. It echoes not because of its content but because of what’s missing—a sense of dignity once expected from those who led the nation.
Perhaps, in the end, Jokowi simply prioritized family over the republic. Perhaps. ***
