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overnor Basuki '€œAhok'€ Tjahaja Purnama shrugged off city councilors'€™ threat to use their rights to shake up his administration during a prolonged city budget dispute.

Councilors at the City Council insisted that the capital'€™s budget draft submitted by the administration to the Home Ministry was illegal and invalid. They accused Ahok of submitting his own version of the 2015 budget to the ministry instead of the one that was approved by the City Council.

Council speaker Prasetyo Edi Marsudi and deputy speakers Abraham '€œLulung'€ Lunggana and Muhamad Taufik criticized the governor for '€œnot reading and understanding the regulations'€.

Prasetyo, an Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) member who was known to have a good relationship with Ahok, said he could '€œno longer maintain a positive relationship with him if the governor was doing things on his own'€.

The councilors also threatened to use their rights to summon the governor and question him. Further, Taufik said if Ahok failed to provide a clear answer, the councilors might go as far as impeaching the governor, whose tenure would end in 2017.

Meanwhile, Ahok was unmoved with the threat.

'€œI would rather be summoned and questioned in an open forum, so the public can see the truth. If they [the councilors] have evidence to impeach me, that'€™s good,'€ Ahok told reporters at City Hall on Monday.

The outspoken governor added with a joke, '€œI don'€™t mind dismissal. Either way, my picture will still be hung at City Hall.'€

On a serious note, Ahok warned the councilors to be careful with their move.

'€œI don'€™t want to compromise not even on a single penny [...] enough is enough.'€

Ahok and the council have been at odds over the 2015 budget draft. The governor previously said the budget submitted to the ministry had already been endorsed by both the council and administration during a public plenary session late in January.

The administration and the legislators were also at odds over the inclusion of the electronic budgeting system. The governor wanted to use the e-budgeting for programs in the city budget to prevent changes, while the councilors wanted the system to be applied later to accommodate changes.

Ahok'€™s stance to prevent the councilors from intervening with the budget details was supported by Constitutional Court ruling No. 35/PUU-XI/2013, which canceled the House of Representatives'€™ right to intervene in the budgeting process at the detailed level, such as proposing programs. The Home Ministry has distributed a circular, calling out the provincial administrations to abide by the court'€™s ruling during the budgeting process at the provincial level.

City secretary Saefullah said the dispute would not affect the budget approval process, saying that the administration had accommodated the council'€™s aspirations in accordance with the regulation.