Indonesia's shocking weekend executions of six drug convicts, five of them foreigners, unleashed a diplomatic storm but more tellingly revealed much about President Joko Widodo and his approach to government. Coming from obscurity and sweeping into office on a wave of popular desire for reform – much of it spurred by disgust over official corruption – the new leader seemed a blank slate on which voters and the world beyond Indonesia could project their dreams for the country. The executions, some of his political appointments and the recent gaffe over the naming of a National Police chief are valuable clues that he is considerably less than the sum of the many aspirations directed his way.