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ollowing his resignation from the Gerindra Party, which was criticized as being unethical by some of the party'€™s executives, Deputy Governor Basuki '€œAhok'€ Tjahaja Purnama has apologized to Hashim Djojohadikusumo, the brother of Gerindra chief patron Prabowo Subianto.
'€œI have met with Pak Hashim. He asked me to postpone my resignation so we could discuss it at executive meetings. I admit that I was wrong, but what would discussing it achieve? I think it would have been useless because we on opposite sides now,'€ he told reporters on Thursday at City Hall.
Ahok stressed that his decision was final.
'€œEven if they offered to support me in 2017 [gubernatorial] election, I would not agree to it because I do not want to be a governor chosen by the council. I will not going to be a slave to councilors,'€ he said.
He was reluctant to credit Gerindra for becoming the deputy governor and instead credited the Indonesia Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and Governor Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo.
'€œGerindra could not endorse me in the election without the support of the PDI-P. Gerindra initially touted two people, me and [actor-turned-politician] Deddy Mizwar. I was lucky that Jokowi won," he said.
He also refused to take the blame for Prabowo'€™s defeat in the presidential election.
'€œPeople preferred Jokowi. In theory, Prabowo should have won because he was supported by the majority. But this is democracy. There'€™s no such thing as a majority'€™s tyranny,'€ he added.
The former East Belitung regent resigned from Gerindra on Wednesday in protest against the Gerindra-led Coalition'€™s support for the scrapping direct elections for regional heads. (nfo)