Dinner diplomacy: Governor Basuki âAhokâ Tjahaja Purnama (second left) talks to City Council leaders M
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With only two years remaining in his current tenure as the capital's top leader, Governor Basuki 'Ahok' Tjahaja Purnama stepped up his lobbying efforts in an apparent move to mend his on-again-off-again relationship with Jakarta councilors through dinner diplomacy.
On Saturday evening, in a post-Idul Fitri gathering, locally known as halal bihalal, Ahok invited city leaders, including the Jakarta City Police chief and City Council speakers, to his official residence in Menteng, Central Jakarta, and served them a special dish: home-cooked Belitung noodle soup, an authentic delicacy from his hometown of East Belitung.
'My aunt prepared the dish especially for us tonight. I am a bit worried I overworked her. I hope she's all right in the kitchen,' Ahok said while laughing, when opening the event.
Ahok's aunt, Sri Saras Sintowati, who was busy serving the delicacy during the dinner, said she spent two days preparing the noodles, which were served with sweet and salty soup and melinjo crackers on top.
The dish was apparently the highlight of the dinner, as the Belitung noodle stall saw the longest queue, even though there were other delicious dishes served that night. Guests admitted that they had never tasted Belitung noodles before and were eager to try them.
'I ate two bowls. It was good,' said council deputy speaker M. Taufik of the Gerindra Party, who enjoyed dinner at the VIP table with the governor and other city leaders.
Taufik has been among Ahok's most outspoken critics on council, particularly after Ahok decided to leave the Gerindra Party last year because of political differences.
When asked whether Ahok's soft approach would smooth the deliberations over the city's draft 2016 budget, Taufik did not provide a specific answer, saying, 'The point was: I ate two bowls.'
City Council speaker Prasetio Edi Marsudi of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), who claimed to have eaten three bowls of the Belitung noodles, said that the dinner had nothing to do with the budget deliberations.
'This is a friendly gathering to improve relations between the legislature and the executive, who both work for the people. I hope that [the delayed budget endorsement] won't happen again this year,' he said.
After months of bickering between Ahok and councilors over alleged markups, the city's draft 2015 budget was finally approved by the Home Ministry in April, months late according to its ideal time frame. Ideally, the budget should be endorsed by the council 30 days before its disbursement, or in November, so the city programs can be started as early as possible every year.
The approved amount of the 2015 city budget was Rp 69.28 trillion, lower than the Rp 72.9 trillion proposed by the Jakarta administration.
City secretary Saefullah said on the sidelines of the dinner that the city administration had submitted the 2016 budget priorities and preliminary thresholds (KUA-PPAS) in June, setting the proposed budget at Rp 73 trillion.
'The budget discussions have been started. We expect the discussions can be concluded within 35 days,' he said.
The city secretary pointed out that the KUAPPAS was 'the most rigid in details in the capital's history'.
'It consists of 7,000 pages,' he pointed out.
Ahok expected the KUAPPAS to be signed in August, boasting that this would be the first city budget to be drafted in compliance with the home ministerial regulations.
'I expect it can be endorsed in January,' he said.
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