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Ahok wants deputy who complements him
Jakarta Deputy Governor Basuki âAhokâ Tjahaja Purnama said he wanted a deputy who would complement his working style, as he will be replacing Joko âJokowiâ Widodo as Jakarta governor next month, when the latter prepares to take office as president in October
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akarta Deputy Governor Basuki 'Ahok' Tjahaja Purnama said he wanted a deputy who would complement his working style, as he will be replacing Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo as Jakarta governor next month, when the latter prepares to take office as president in October.
'My deputy should be a person who is a populist, corruption-free, cool, honest and able to calm my temper,' he said as quoted by kompas.com at City Hall on Wednesday.
Ahok, who is the former East Belitung regent, said he would prefer someone who had experience of leading a province or a city, rather than a career politician or lawmaker.
He also said that he may choose a woman deputy in order to have a colleague who could calm him down if and when he lost his temper.
However, he rejected recent speculation that suggested he might join forces with Surabaya's woman mayor, Tri 'Risma' Rismaharini, saying that he considered Risma had a similar character to his.
Ahok will replace Jokowi, who has been named president-elect for 2014-2019 by the General Elections Commission (KPU), when Jokowi resigns from the governorship in August.
'I am ready to replace Pak Jokowi, but compared to him, I am more blunt and quicker in making decisions,' he said.
The decision of who will become Ahok's deputy lays with the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and the Gerindra Party; the former endorsed Jokowi and the latter Ahok for the 2012 Jakarta gubernatorial election.
The names of several candidates have been proposed as Ahok's deputy through to 2017.
Boy Sadikin, chairman of the PDI-P's Jakarta branch of the regional executives board and son of former Jakarta governor Ali Sadikin; Djarot Saiful Hidayat, former mayor of Blitar, East Java; Bambang DH, former mayor of Surabaya, East Java, and Muhammad Taufik, chairman of Gerindra's Jakarta branch of the regional executives board. (gda)
