THE HINDU News International LONDON, November 18, 2012 A PRESIDENT SETS A RICH PRECEDENT Hasan Suroor AP Uruguay's

s President Jose Mujica works on his flower farm. TOPICS World Uruguay A ramshackle farm off a rural dirt road. The familys laundry is strung on a washing line out in the open. And water comes from a well surrounded by overgrown weeds. It might read like a description of an impoverished farmers house, but, actually, this is the residence of Uruguays left-wing President Jose Mujica who has shunned the luxurious presidential house to live on his wifes modest farm outside the capital Montevideo. The 77-year-old charismatic former revolutionary, who has been dubbed the worlds poorest president, gives away 90 per cent of his monthly salary equivalent of $12,000 to charity. The only visible trappings of power are two police officers lounging around with a three-legged dog Manuela to keep company. And, yes, theres also a run-down Volkswagen Beetle parked under a crumbling shed. He describes it as his most valued possession. In 2010, a year after he came to power, he declared a personal annual wealth of just $1,800 about two-third of Vice-President Danilo Astoris declared wealth, and a third of the figure declared by his predecessor, Tabare Vasquez. Ive lived like this most of my life. I can live well with what I have, he told the BBC pointing out that he enjoyed the freedom that came with living without the burden of wealth. Im called the poorest president, but I dont feel poor. Poor people are those who only work to try to keep an expensive lifestyle, and always want more and more. This is a matter of freedom. If you dont have many possessions then you dont need to work all your life like a slave to sustain them, and therefore you have more time for yourself. A soft-spoken grey-haired figure, Mr. Mujica shrugs off criticism that he is eccentric.

I may appear to be an eccentric old man... But this is a free choice, he said, in turn, criticising his critics for their obsession with consumerism. Most world leaders, he said, had a blind obsession to achieve growth with consumption, as if the contrary would mean the end of the world. And he has no intention of emulating them. Keywords: Uruguay, Jose Mujica