Following his defeat to Anies Baswedan in the April 19 runoff election, many have been speculating on what Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama will do after he leaves office in October. Many have ventured to guess that President Joko Widodo might tap him to become a government minister (Jokowi was noncommittal when asked about that prospect) or even his potential running mate in the 2019 election, while others have floated the idea and even started a petition asking him to run for governor of Bali.
But those who hoped for a political future for the governor after his time in office ends may be disappointed to learn that Ahok says he doesn’t want any of those things. Instead, all he says he wants to do, is speak.
“I have decided that I will be a speaker, I will not be part of a political party, I do not want to be a minister, nor presidential staff, none of that,” Ahok said at City Hall today as quoted by Kompas.
It’s a response that’s sure to be puzzling to the ardent public servant’s many fans, but Ahok said that one platform he wanted to continue using as a speaker is his program, “Ahok Show” which he started during the election campaign season as a way to communicate directly with voters.
Ahok said that he wanted to continue the show on a TV station (previously it was only aired online) once he was done with the governorship. He even joked that he would do it if he could get 20-30% of the ad revenue for the show.
It is, of course, possible that Ahok is simply playing coy and actually has more ambitious plans than public speaking and talk shows. But much of his fate also relies on the final verdict in his ongoing blasphemy trial. Although prosecutors have only demanded 2 years of probation (a sentence that would allow him to continue working as a government official) there are still many demanding that he go to jail – organizers of an anti-Ahok rally scheduled for tomorrow have claimed that up to 5 million people will hit the streets of Jakarta demanding he get the harshest possible sentence.
However his trial concludes, it’s safe to say that it would be an enormous loss to Indonesia if a politician as dedicated, efficient and hard-working as Ahok left public service. But, as many said during and after the election, perhaps the country doesn’t deserve him.
