Budi Waseso is currently the head of the National Narcotics Agency, but you may know him better as the former National Police Head of Detectives who was forced to step down from the position due to public pressure after he launched several controversial police actions against the Corruption Eradication Committee (KPK).
Or, more likely, you remember him as the guy who wanted to build a special island prison just for drug offenders that would be guarded by man-eating crocodiles and piranhas (seriously).
And there is a small chance that he might be the next Governor of Jakarta.
Having gotten totally rejected by popular current governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) is apparently considering Budi as their potential candidate in the 2017 Jakarta governor’s election.
PDI-P, the party of President Joko Widodo (though some would say it would be more accurate to call it the party of chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri), apparently has numerous members who think Budi could be a strong potential rival to Ahok.
“Communication continues because he (Budi Waseso) is friends with many PDI-P members,” Andreas Parera, PDI-P’s central executive board chairman, told Tempo via Whatsapp yesterday.
Besides Budi, Andreas said Surabaya Mayor Tri Rismaharini was (aka Bu Risma) was also still under consideration as a possible candidate (despite countless incidences in which Bu Risma said she would not leave Surabaya to run for governor in Jakarta).
Andreas said that PDI-P will be creating a shortlist of five potential candidates next week. Personally, we really hope they decide to nominate Budi. Considering how amazingly batshit crazy his crocodile prison idea was, we can’t wait to hear what kind of wacky campaign promises he comes up with for Jakarta.
