WITH an eager smile and only a few tufts of hair on his chin, Ibrahim, a 30-year-old protester in Jakarta, does not seem like much of a Muslim firebrand. Yet on September 29th he and his four-year-old son, Alid, who clutched a flag emblazoned with the opening lines of the Koran, joined thousands of hard-line Islamists marching in protest against the government. Their concern? Communism and the “criminalisation” of Islam in the world’s most populous Muslim country, he says. In a feat of doublethink, he rails against capitalism, too: “There’s no distribution of wealth, so the rich become richer and the poor become poorer.” Ibrahim may have a fuzzy idea of what exactly he is protesting against. But his muddled ideology could still present a threat to President Joko Widodo, commonly known as Jokowi, who is likely to seek a second five-year term in 2019.

Jokowi’s election in 2014 was hailed by enthusiastic observers as a turning-point in Indonesian politics. When campaigning he emphasised his probity and humility. He promised to improve crumbling roads, ports and airports, remove graft from politics and boost foreign investment. Comparisons were made to Barack Obama, on the basis that the two men both had a certain gawky charm and both appeared to inspire an enormous amount of hope. An avid user of social media, Jokowi regularly uploads short clips on YouTube, making him seem far more accessible than most politicians. A hand-held video of a lunch he hosted for King Salman of Saudi Arabia, which shows the monarch slurping soup (from a golden spoon) has been watched 2m times.