I

t was funny but also saddening to see The Jakarta Post'€™s front-page picture on Friday. Supporters demonstrating in the streets near the Constitutional Court on Thursday were so overjoyed that they knelt down on the road to express their gratitude to God, whom they '€” wrongly '€” believed had created a miracle for their idol Prabowo Subianto.

They were the victims of false rumors that the court had declared the retired three-star general as the winner of the July 9 presidential election. They thanked God, some of them even tearfully, while the real fact at that time was that the court justices were still reading their verdict.

These die-hard supporters were in fact simply repeating what Prabowo himself did on July 9, when a few pollsters told the public that Prabowo had defeated his rival Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo in their quick counts, although all the much more credible surveyors had come to the entirely opposite conclusion. Prabowo immediately knelt down upon hearing the '€œgood news'€ from the surveyors, who were clearly trying please their client.

The court totally rejected Prabowo'€™s claim that massive, structured and systematic vote rigging had occured during the race. Despite the final and binding verdict, Prabowo had still refused to concede defeat as of Saturday. And his lawyers still boast that they will fight for '€œtrue justice'€. Few people were impressed by the pledge by Prabowo'€™s defense team, because in Indonesia lawyers are widely perceived as persons who will say and do whatever they are instructed by those who pay them, as long the money continues to roll in.

Prabowo'€™s spokesman Tantowi Yahya said that his boss acknowledged the ruling of the Constitutional Court, but the country music artist and legislator from the Golkar Party quickly added that the verdict '€œdoes not reflect substantive justice'€.

Jokowi is expected to submit his resignation as the governor of Jakarta in the near future. It is not impossible, however, that he will deliver the letter to the Jakarta Legislative Council close to his swearning-in ceremony as the country'€™s seventh president on Oct. 20 to avoid unncessary political chicanery by the city legislators.

Jokowi'€™s deputy, Basuki '€œAhok'€ Tjahaja Purnama will automatically become the next Jakarta governor. He has created history because he will be the first Christian and ethnic Chinese governor of Jakarta. It is encouraging to see that the public apparently does not care much about his religion or ethnic background, or indeed his outspokenness. So far they are still impressed with the performance of the former regent of Belitung in Bangka Belitung Province and former House of Representatives (DPR) member.

In its Friday edition, this newspaper quoted five of Ahok'€™s trademarks: Boldness, an open-book, a short-temper, benevolence and good humor. One of the examples of his boldness was demonstrated when he closed Jakarta'€™s iconic Stadium nightclub after a policeman was found dead following a drug overdose.

'€œAhok is one of the rare public officials who is transparent about his wealth. Since he was first elected as a member of the House of Representatives (DPR), Ahok has been well-known for making job-related expense reports open to the public, reportedly to the ire of his colleagues [...]. When he became deputy governor, Ahok began disclosing his salary and his bank accounts.'€ (the Post, page 9).

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 Outgoing President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono visited Papua on Friday. He was also scheduled to visit Timor Leste. The retired army general will be remembered in Indonesian history as the first directly elected president. He defeated incumbent president Megawati Soekarnoputri in 2004, and he humiliated her again in 2009.

Yudhoyono, however, has left a state budget '€œtime bomb'€ for his successor Jokowi. In the draft budget he presented to the House on Aug. 16, the President refused to make a farewell gesture by drastically reducing the huge fuel subsidies in next year'€™s budget. Energy subsidies gobble up 15 percent of the Rp 2.02-quadrillion budget (US$172 billion). He chose to '€œlock'€ the budget and left little room for the next government to maneuver. It will be very difficult for Jokowi to realize his election campagin promises with such a budget structure.

 Finance Minister Chatib Basri, however, played down Jokowi'€™s fears. '€œAll changes are possible. We are open to any changes,'€ he said in a hearing with the House on Thursday.

Earlier, Chatib also insisted that there were no politics in the budget designed to create problems for the next government. He said that the outgoing administration intended to maintain the current economic situation to help Jokowi'€™s government.

'€œThis current government has no political motives, because no matter what, those executing [the budget] will be the next government,'€ the minister said on Tuesday.

On Tuesday, international news agencies reported that Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott would visit Indonesia in the near future. He will be accompanied by Foreign Minister Julie Bishop who will sign a new '€œCode of Conduct'€ with her Indonesian counterpart Marty Natalegawa.

Yudhoyono demanded the agreement following WikiLeaks reports that Australia had bugged the telephone of the President, First Lady Ani Yudhoyono and his top aides.

'€œIt really reflects the commitment by both sides not to undertake surveillance activities that would compromise the interests of each other,'€ Marty commented about the new agreement.

'€” Kornelius Purba