Indonesian President Joko Widodo, dressed in traditional Central Javanese royalty outfit, smiles during a ceremony marking the country's 78th anniversary of independence at Merdeka Palace in Jakarta, Indonesia, on Aug. 17, 2023. Widodo's phenomenal rise from a riverside slum, where he grew up, to the presidency of Indonesia spotlighted how far the world's third-largest democracy had veered from a brutal authoritarian era a decade ago. With his second and final five-year term ending in October, Widodo, regarded by some as Asia's Barack Obama, is leaving a legacy of impressive economic growth and an ambitious array of infrastructure projects including a $33 billion plan to relocate Indonesia's congested capital to the frontier island of Borneo. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim, File)
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