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akarta Deputy Governor Basuki '€œAhok'€ Tjahaja Purnama has said that he is ready to dissociate himself from the Great Indonesia Movement (Gerindra) party if it perseveres with its move to return the election of regional heads to legislative councils.

'€œShould these attempts succeed, it has crossed my mind to leave the party. Why should I stay?'€ Ahok said when asked about his contradictory stance on the local election bill at City Hall on Tuesday.

Ahok maintained his stance, expressing support for direct local elections and rejecting the Red-and-White Coalition'€™s move to bring back the previous system, which he said was vulnerable to corruption.

The former East Belitung regent, however, stressed that the voting system was not the main issue.

'€œHave we seen a rise in citizens'€™ well-being since the introduction of direct elections? Not really. Was it better before? Not really. So what is the point? The key point is that public officials should not embezzle taxpayers money,'€ he said.

Gerindra'€™s Jakarta chapter chairman Muhammad Taufik said the party would not try to hold onto Ahok, should he want to leave the party.

'€œHe should walk the walk. If he wants to quit, he can just submit a resignation letter. He has the right to. [Gerindra] won'€™t hold him back,'€ he said.

Taufik added that Gerindra had many potential members, and that the resignation of Ahok, one of Gerindra'€™s most popular politicians, would not harm the party.

'€œWe have a lot of good members who are committed to supporting the party'€™s policies. We won'€™t stop Ahok if he decides to resign,'€ he said.

Ahok was previously a Golkar legislator in the House of Representatives before jumping ship to Gerindra to become Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo'€™s running mate in the 2012 direct gubernatorial election.

The Gerindra coalition'€™s move to return local elections to regional legislatures has also encountered resistance from other regional heads, including Jokowi, Bandung Mayor Ridwan Kamil and Surabaya Mayor Tri Rismaharini.

Following coalition-backed presidential hopeful Prabowo Subianto'€™s defeat in the recent presidential election, the coalition began to support the idea of returning the election of local heads to the regional legislative councils. The bill on local elections is still being deliberated by the House of Representatives'€™ Commission II on elections and home affairs.

Meanwhile, a survey conducted by the Indonesian Survey Circle (LSI) has indicated that the majority of the public is against the idea of scrapping direct local elections.

LSI found that 81 percent of 1,200 respondents considered direct elections the most appropriate way to elect regional heads, while only 11 percent believed that the authority should be given back to legislative councils.

'€œThis figure demonstrates the unpopularity of the idea of removing the vote for regional heads from the people,'€ said LSI researcher Adjie Alfaraby.

Adji added that the idea faced resistance not only from voters who supported political parties that backed president and vice president-elect Jokowi and Jusuf Kalla, but also from supporters of opposition parties grouped in the Red-and-White Coalition. (ask/idb/alz)