How Jokowi Solved Indonesia’s Toll Road Dilemma. Sort Of. In breaking through old bottlenecks, Indonesia’s president has blurred the lines between the state and private enterprise. May 11, 2021 A section of the Trans-Java Toll Road between the towns of Salitaga and Kertosono in East Java. Credit: Wikimedia Commons/Tsaqifwicaksono3003 Advertisement When President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo took office in 2014, the long-stalled Trans Java Toll Road was in a state of suspended animation. As detailed by Jamie Davidson in “Governing the Roads,” for years the goal of building a highway crossing the island of Java had been derailed by drawn out battles over land acquisition and disputes between local officials and central authorities in Jakarta. Jokowi promised to break through this logjam and construct 1,000 kilometers of toll roads in his first term. Like many of his ambitious goals, at the time it seemed somewhat unlikely.