Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama and his deputy Djarot Saiful Hidayat seem to get along really well, despite having to face the daily pressure of running a city of almost 10 million.
Ahok himself said he hopes that he can continue working with Djarot by his side for another term as governor, but it looks like the pair will have to leap several political hurdles in order to run together in 2017.
Djarot is a member of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), the only party with enough seats in the Jakarta City Council to nominate their own governor-vice governor pair in 2017. Meanwhile, Ahok is most likely going to run as an independent thanks to the tireless work of a volunteer group of citizens called Teman Ahok (Friends of Ahok).
Sadly, PDI-P and Teman Ahok are at odds when it comes to the 2017 gubernatorial race.
“PDI-P does not intend to support Teman Ahok [in backing Ahok to run as an independent],” Ahok told Tempo today, adding that there’s still a possibility that PDI-P would nominate their own pair.
“Teman Ahok isn’t sure that [PDI-P] is going to endorse me as candidate for governor. If they (Teman Ahok) give me up to the party but it turns out the party won’t endorse me, then I can’t register [as a candidate].”
So if Ahok wants to run with Djarot in 2017, he could either accept PDI-P’s endorsement as governor (meaning that he won’t run as an independent), or count on PDI-P to graciously allow Djarot to partner up with him if he runs as an independent – just the way Teman Ahok, and many Jakartans (including us) wish for.
If not, then Ahok could still run as an independent, but with a new candidate for vice governor.
Ahok said he still holds out hope that Teman Ahok and PDI-P can find a way to work out their differences when the two groups meet to discuss the situation soon.
