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Jakarta Post

Haji Lulung and the sunrise

JP/AWOJakarta City Council deputy speaker Abraham “Haji Lulung” Lunggana has been a trending topic on Twitter for the last three days under the hashtag #SaveHajiLulung, for allegedly insulting Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama during deadlocked talks on the 2015 city budget between the governor and the capital’s councilors on Thursday

The Jakarta Post
Sun, March 8, 2015

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Haji Lulung and the sunrise

JP/AWO

Jakarta City Council deputy speaker Abraham '€œHaji Lulung'€ Lunggana has been a trending topic on Twitter for the last three days under the hashtag #SaveHajiLulung, for allegedly insulting Jakarta Governor Basuki '€œAhok'€ Tjahaja Purnama during deadlocked talks on the 2015 city budget between the governor and the capital'€™s councilors on Thursday.

Many took to the social media platform to mock the deputy speaker. '€œMoses only stretched out his hand twice. Once over the Red Sea and once to part Haji Lulung'€™s hair,'€ said @BonnieTriyana. Meanwhile, according to @Stakof, '€œWhile Haji Lulung sleeps, the sun will not rise, it'€™s afraid of waking him up.'€

Lulung clearly feels humiliated by such widespread bullying on social media. On Saturday, he blamed the media for treating him unfairly. He said his wife had asked him to quit politics.

'€œI'€™m no angel but now my wife is crying,'€ Lulung said in a public discussion, hosted by a private radio station in Jakarta. He urged the media and public to treat him and his colleagues fairly. '€œDon'€™t make your own judgement [on the City Council]. Don'€™t hastily conclude that Ahok is clean,'€ said Lulung, who was recently questioned by police for driving to his office an unregistered Lamborghini.

'€œHaji Lulung should be happy because he'€™s famous now. It'€™s crazy, now he is a world trending topic,'€ said Ahok as quoted by kompas.com on Friday.

Ahok has accused the councilors of marking up the city budget to Rp 12.1 trillion (US$931.7 million). The 2015 budget was set at Rp 73.08 trillion. They countered, saying that Ahok had tried to bribe them. Home Minister Tjahjo Kumolo gave a strong signal that the accusations against Ahok were baseless.

In the meantime, the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) and the National Police followed up Ahok'€™s reports as there were strong preliminary indications that the councilors may have erred in the budget. The police have summoned several councilors in their capacity as witnesses regarding the alleged budget irregularities.

Ahok became governor in October last year when Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo vacated the seat following his inauguration as the country'€™s 7th president. Lulung, a United Development Party (PPP) politician, has been hostile to Ahok and Jokowi since the 2012 Jakarta gubernatorial election.

Deputy council speaker Muhammad Taufik has also positioned himself in opposition to Jokowi and Ahok. During the presidential election campaign, the Gerindra Party politician often employed dirty tactics in an attempt to tarnish Jokowi'€™s image. Taufik himself has been convicted of corruption.

Ahok knows he does not have a political power base, because he does not belong to a political party after he resigned from Gerindra last year. The outspoken governor, however, is intelligently reaching out to the public in his '€œwar'€ against the City Council. The people, upset with rampant corruption, support the ethnic Chinese, Christian governor, because they are impressed with his track record.

Like Ahok, Jokowi also has no political power base. The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) nominated him in last year'€™s presidential race. He is dependant on the party'€™s chairwoman, Megawati Soekarnoputri. The recent defacto demolition of the KPK had a lot to do with Megawati, who was outraged after the antigraft body named her former adjutant, Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan, a graft suspect just after Jokowi proposed Budi as the new police chief to the House of Reprsentatives in January.

Luckily, the President was '€œhelped'€ by the nationwide support he received for his determination to reject the clemency appeals of drug convicts awaiting their execution after the Supreme Court upheld their death penalty.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott is desperately trying to save two Australian citizens from the firing squad, although he realizes there is no hope that Jokowi will change his mind.

'€œ[In this issue], also look at the victims. There about 4.5 million of them. Do not just see it from the execution side,'€ the President said on Wednesday when asked about Australia'€™s offer to swap the two Australians with Indonesian prisoners in Australia.

***

Meanwhile, Manpower Minister Muhammad Hanif Dhakiri said on Wednesday that his ministry would take firm action in ensuring that expatriates who worked in Indonesia abided by government regulations on Indonesian language proficiency requirements.

His office plans to set up online proficiency tests for the foreigners who want to work in Indonesia. Improved language ability will help foreigners boost their work performance in Indonesia.

'€œSome foreign professionals come to this country and after several years here can still only say '€˜selamat pagi'€™ [good morning] and '€˜terima kasih'€™ [thank you]. It is not fair for us,'€ said the minister.

According to the Manpower Ministry, the number of expatriates in Indonesia in 2014 was 68,672. They are mostly citizens of China, India, Japan, Malaysia and South Korea.

The language policy was part of the country'€™s effort to anticipate the full implementation of the ASEAN Economic Community before December this year, said the minister.

Some universities in Indonesia, such as the University of Indonesia in Depok, West Java; Padjadjaran University, Bandung; and Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta, have opened such programs for years. Many of their students are diplomats who will be assigned to Indonesia.

'€” Kornelius Purba

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