Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama has a new ally in his battle for truth, justice and re-election as an independent candidate in the 2017 Jakarta governor’s race.
That ally is BATMAN.
No, we’re not talking about Batman, the caped crusader and defender of Gotham City. We’re talking about BATMAN – which is apparently short for BAsuki Tjahaja Purnama Mania.
Yes, that is one of the more far-fetched Indonesian abbreviations we have ever seen. But it was chosen for a reason. You see, the people behind BATMAN believe that Ahok is Jakarta’s very own dark knight.
At a press conference today announcing the existence of BATMAN, the volunteer group’s chairman, Immanuel Ebe Nezer, explained the reasoning behind the group’s name.
“Why did we choose the name BATMAN? Because Batman is a crimefighter, just like Ahok,” Immanuel said as quoted by Detik.
According to the BATMAN chairman, the outpouring of volunteers and support for Ahok’s independent run is a result of the middle class being fed up with the empty promises and slogans of political parties.
However, Immanuel noted that BATMAN was a loner and would remain separate from Teman Ahok (Friends of Ahok), the group that has worked to gather enough ID cards from Jakarta voters to support Ahok’s independent run, saying they had different missions. He said BATMAN would focus mainly on promoting Ahok as being the best possible candidate in the next governors race.
And like Batman, BATMAN says it will not accept any rewards for its work. Immanuel made clear that the group had not received any funding from Ahok and that they would not ask him for any favors should he be re-elected.
We’re still not exactly sure what BATMAN is going to do to help Ahok (besides make a bunch of promotional posters replacing Batman’s head with Ahok’s) but the mere fact that they got lots of Indonesian news outlets to write stories with the headline “Batman supports Ahok” seems good enough to justify the group’s existence.
