Indonesia traffic jam forces Widodo to walk

Indonesia’s notorious traffic congestion was on display for the world Thursday after the country’s president was forced to walk two kilometres through the scorching heat to attend a military parade.

Graft-ridden Indonesia is home to one of Asia’s most inefficient bureaucracies and gridlock plagues many towns.

The country’s traffic nightmares were aptly illustrated when President Joko Widodo had to walk more than two kilometers to attend a ceremony marking the 72nd anniversary of the Indonesian military’s founding.

Widodo and senior government officials were held up by gridlock as they approached the military parade in Cilegon, a port city about two-and-a-half hours drive from the capital Jakarta, the presidential palace said.

After a 30-minute wait, “the president then decided from inside the car that he would walk,” Widodo’s guard Ili Dasili said in a statement.

National police chief Tito Karnavian joined the president.

Video footage shows the president walking with a phalanx of security personnel while spectators yell and chant his name.

Widodo’s unorthodox entrance wasn’t lost on social media users.

“How come the president walked for two kilometers to the military anniversary location, why didn’t they give him the privilege of vacating the road or taking him in a helicopter?” @Pujithegooners wrote.