There has been some talk recently about Indonesians who are considering abstaining from this year’s presidential election — mainly in reference to the viral popularity of fictional third party meme candidates Nurhadi-Aldo — but there were also some who declared their abstention from voting this year just after President Joko WIdodo announced that his running mate would be Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) leader Ma’ruf Amin.
Some who had previously supported Jokowi said they couldn’t in good conscious vote for Ma’ruf due to his views on minority rights as well as his pivotal role in putting former Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama in jail for blasphemy (the MUI leader having signed off on the fatwa declaring Ahok had insulted the Qu’ran).
Now, shortly before his much anticipated release from jail on January 24, Ahok has sent a letter to his supporters asking them one thing: don’t abstain from the election.
Ahok’s letter was conveyed to the public via Ima Mahdia, a member of his staff who also worked on his gubernatorial campaign. It is addressed specifically to resident’s of West Jakarta’s 10th electoral district but she shared it with the general public via her Twitter account.
Ima is herself running as a candidate to represent the 10th district in the Jakarta City Council in the upcoming regional elections (which will take place simultaneously with the presidential election on April 17). She is running as a member of PDI-P, the party of President Joko Widodo that Ahok also ran for in the Jakarta gubernatorial race.
https://twitter.com/imadya/status/1085019329182162944
Here is a translation of Ahok’s letter, dated today:
To residents in electoral district 10 of Jakarta. Please support and do not abstain from the April 17, 2019 election. I entrust this letter to Ima Mahdiah, a legislative candidate for Jakarta’s 10th district from PDI-P.
May we have health, success, joy, and the peace of God always within our hearts and minds.
Ima, who has continued to assist Ahok during the duration of his prison term, said he was the one who suggested that she join PDI-P as a candidate.
Back in July, Ahok also wrote a letter to his supporters from prison asking them to continue to support President Joko Widodo in his re-election bid.
In August, Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs Luhut Binsar Panjaitan said he received a letter from Ahok expressing his continuing support for Jokowi, even after the incumbent had chosen Ma’ruf as his running mate.
Ma’ruf has made overtures to win the support of Ahok’s supporters and recently said in an interview that he “regretted” his role in Ahok’s blasphemy trial.
While there have been many rumors about what the former Jakarta governor will do after he is finally released from prison on January 24 — everything from joining PDI-P and Jokowi’s campaign to marrying his ex-wife’s former bodyguard and going into business — nobody except Ahok himself knows for sure yet.
