REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Presidential candidate Joko Widodo's step to start a mental revolution is worth appreciating to build the Indonesian people's character, a political psychologist Hamdi Muluk of University of Indonesia (UI) said.

"The main problem facing the Indonesian nation really deals with mentality," he said at a discussion on mental revolution here on Thursday.

Changing the nation's mentality is not easy but must be done intensively, he noted.

The idea of mental revolution had surfaced in the 1980s and the 1990s, but it had not been heard since then, he said.

"The fact is that there is no change in the mentality of the Indonesian nation," he remarked.

That the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP) presidential candidate, Joko Widodo who is currently the Jakarta governor, has come up with the idea of a mental revolution is worth appreciating, he said.

"For a quite long time, we have not heard a state official voicing the idea of mental revolution but now Jokowi has done that," he noted.

However, he added that the idea of mental revolution should not merely be a jargon but must be concretely followed up.

Mental revolution is a prerequisite to take the country forward in terms of development, he said.

Meanwhile, state administrative law expert Margarito also praised Jokowi, as Joko Widodo is popularly called, for having knowledge of the problem facing the Indonesian nation, mentality.

However, he questioned in which direction Jokowi if elected president will realize the idea, because it is not clear and concrete.

"Jokowi must explain his idea so it will not be biased," he said.

What will he do to start a mental revolution in the fields of law and bureaucracy, he asked.

Jokowi had better figure out the idea in his vision, mission and program as a presidential candidate, who will contest in the July 9 poll, he added.

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