Jakarta. President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has been traveling across the country to bid farewell and apologize to locals ahead of his retirement, and a close aide said that this showed the two-term leader had been reflecting on his past policies. 

In about two weeks from now, Jokowi will hand over the presidential power to his Prabowo Subianto after leading the country since 2014. As his decade-long leadership comes to an end, Jokowi has been going on business trips across the archipelago to launch infrastructure projects and inspect prices of staple food at traditional markets. Jokowi almost never missed his chance to publicly apologize to the locals.  

“How he [Jokowi] continuously apologizes on many occasions shows how serious he is in reflecting the policies that he has made,” Yusuf Permana, a deputy for the Presidential Press Bureau, was quoted as saying by news agency Antara on Friday.

According to Yusuf, Jokowi has shown his humility and courage in admitting that he is not perfect as a person and president. This shows integrity, statesmanship, and care towards his responsibilities as president, Yusuf said. 

“This is part of his commitment towards transparency and accountability in his leadership,” Yusuf said, adding the apologies also reflect Jokowi’s empathy and close-knit ties with the people.

Most recently, Jokowi said he was sorry when going to the traditional market in East Nusa Tenggara on Thursday.

“I’m just an ordinary man who is full of mistakes, shortcomings, and errors. I would like to apologize profusely, and also for the policies that you might be unhappy with,” Jokowi said on Thursday.