After the debacle earlier this week when Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama blew up after finding out the books at the JakBook and Edu Fair had been marked up above market prices, Ahok is now calling on large bookstore to give parents with Jakarta Smart Cards (KJP) the kinds of special discounts that they should have been able to get at the fair.
“Yesterday I was able to photograph some mothers and their children buying bags, books, and all sorts of things at a Mount Agung bookstore. That is what I want to see more of,” Ahok said, as quoted by Kompas.
“Now we are asking Bank DKI, Mount Agung and other bookstores for a big favor – to give KJP holders a discount of 10 to 20 percent,” the governor said at City Hall this morning.
A big focus of the Jakarta Smart Card program is to give low-income families funds to subsidize their children’s education. Ahok said that, If bookstores could afford to give the discounts, the KJP holders could spend more of their education subsidies elsewhere. To help make it happen, he wanted to integrate bookstore into the electronic payment system Bank DKI has set up for KJP holders so that they can pay for things directly using their cards.
