It’s no secret that Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama is one tough, uncompromising politician. He’s always willing to make hard choices for the betterment of the city, even if they’re extremely unpopular with some of the people living in the capital.
One of those decisions Ahok regularly has to make is whether to tear down illegal buildings, which are often the long time homes and places of business for many of the city’s residents, in order to make Jakarta more orderly and livable in the long run.
Oftentimes, the people who are hurt by those decisions lash out at the Governor, even threatening to attack his home.
But even some of the people who have lost their livelihoods at the hands of Ahok’s policies recognize that ultimately he is doing it for the good of the city.
One such man is 26-year-old Aris Susanto, whose trading kiosk, located on Jalan Jembatan Lima in the Menteng Dalam neighborhood of Tebet, South Jakarta, was recently torn down by members of the civil service police unit (Satpol PP) who tore down numerous illegal building in that area earlier this week.
Even though Aris lost the store he had been working out of for seven years, he stoically told Kompas that he realized his kiosk was not legally allowed to be there. Then he went on to tell the reporter something rather remarkable:
“So I just wanted to say hi to Pak Ahok. I hope you always succeed in life!”
Aris went on to say that he thought Ahok had done a good job leading Jakarta. He just hoped that the governor would provide some sort of solution for him and the other traders displaced by his policies.
Another merchant who also lost his store in the Satpol PP raid, 40-year-old Riki, said he did not mind having to move his business, but said he hoped the government would provide a place to go.
“If you have to move by yourself, honestly, it is very difficult. Rental kiosks are now costly. Once needs to be able to pay Rp 25 million in cash. Small traders can not even think of where to get that much money,” he said.
Ahok is going to have to make a lot more tough decisions if he’s going to keep improving the city. But if even some of the people negatively affected by his policies are still cheering him on, hopefully he has a good shot at being re-elected governor in 2017.
