If you’re not into Indonesian showbiz, you may remember (or may not, we wouldn’t blame you) Ahmad Dhani as the popstar who had grand aspirations of replacing Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama in the 2017 election. Lacking any political experience or nous, Dhani’s “campaign” mainly consisted of digs at the current governor, including the one time he said that he would take back Jakarta from Ahok because Indonesia doesn’t belong to people of Chinese descendant.
If you think that that’s something only a racist would say, keep in mind that Dhani once dressed in a Nazi SS uniform in a music video to express his support for 2014 losing presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto.
Now, it appears that Dhani has accepted he won’t take over for Ahok in 2017 since no political party decided to back his campaign. But that doesn’t mean he still doesn’t hold a grudge against Ahok.
“Personally, I don’t want Ahok in Indonesia because Ahok is a bad example for Indonesia,” he said, this time refraining from any racial slurs, as quoted by Vivanews yesterday.
But unlike Dhani, the majority of Jakartans don’t see Ahok as a bad example for Indonesia. In fact, Ahok is the frontrunners to win the 2017 election according to recent polls.
And should Ahok get reelected, Dhani said he’ll GTFO of Jakarta, away from Ahok, all the way to… Bekasi.
“If Ahok wins later, there’s no way I’ll appreciate it. I will move to Bekasi,” he said.
We wonder if he’ll run for mayor there.
