Jakarta governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama has said he has already won permission from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) for him and his deputy governor Djarot Saiful Hidayat to run on the party's ticket in  the 2017 gubernatorial election.

"The PDI-P has given me approval to partner with Djarot. The PDI-P is currently meeting with Friends of Ahok (Teman Ahok)," Ahok told journalists at City Hall on Wednesday. However, the PDI-P has not officially declared its candidates for the gubernatorial election.

Teman Ahok consists of Ahok supporters who voluntarily launched a campaign to collect photocopies of Jakartan voters'€™ identity cards to fulfill the legal requirements for an governor who wishes to run in the election as an independent candidate. The group has managed to collect more than 600,000 photocopies of IDs, more than enough for him to run as an independent candidate.

Ahok, however, said that if he could not partner with Djarot, he would prefer to choose one of his administration's civil servants as a candidate for deputy governor.

Ahok has previously mentioned the names of several civil servants that might run alongside him in the election, including City Spatial Planning and Environment head Oswar Muadzin Mungkasa, Jakarta Financial and Asset Management Board head Heru Budi Hartono, senior civil servant Sarwo Handayani and Jakarta city secretary Saefullah.

Ahok said he hoped that such a nomination for the deputy governor position would help repair the image of civil servants, who were considered lazy, corrupt, dishonest and unprofessional. "Changing public perception will increase people'€™s trust in civil servants," Ahok said.

In terms of electability, Ahok remains the most likely candidate, according to the most recent poll. His potential contenders include Bandung Mayor Ridwan Kamil, former law and human rights minister Yusril Ihza Mahendra, former youths and sport minister Adhyaksa Dault and businessman Sandiaga Uno. (bbn)(+)

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