Jakarta Governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama.(Kompas.com/Kurnia Sari Aziza)

Incumbent Jakarta Governor Basuki '€œAhok'€ Tjahaja Purnama has confirmed that he will seek reelection in 2017 as an independent candidate and will collect 1 million photocopies of Jakarta residents'€™ IDs, although the Constitutional Court has relaxed the requirement for independent candidates.

'€œI, however, insist on obtaining 1 million ID photocopies. It will convince me that Jakartans want me to run as an independent candidate,'€ Ahok said on Wednesday as quoted by tribunnews.com.

The Constitutional Court on Tuesday ordered that the benchmark minimum amount of support for independent candidates for governors, mayors and regents should be based on the final voters list in each region, instead of its population as stated in the original law.

In the last election, Jakarta had nearly 7 million voters. And an independent candidate therefore would be required to collect 7.5 percent of this total or about 525,000 ID photocopies.

Ahok'€™s supporters, who are grouped together as the Friends of Ahok (Teman Ahok), have started to collect ID photocopies of by opening collection centers in shopping malls and other public places as well as organizing various events.

So far, there have been four figures, who have expressed their intention to take part in the Jakarta gubernatorial elections.

The three others are former youth and sports minister Adhyaksa Dault, deputy chairman of Gerindra Party'€™s Advisory Council Sandiaga Uno and Marco Kusumawijaya, an urban expert. Like Ahok, Marco is a Chinese Indonesian, who has declared himself as an independent candidate.

Ahok welcomes the emergence of other people, who want to take part in the 2017 race, including Adhyaksa, who visited him at City Hall on Tuesday.

Ahok said his guest deserved to become the city governor. Meanwhile, Adhyaksa also praised Ahok'€™s performance as governor. '€œJakarta does not need a smart leader, the city only needs a person who dares to make a decision,'€ Ahok added.

But both Ahok and Adhyaksa denied that they talked about politics during their meeting. '€œWe just chatted. He [Adhyaksa] said that we [Ahok and Adhyaksa] have supported each other. He also said that I have done the right thing,'€ Ahok told journalists in City hall on Wednesday. (bbn)(++++)

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