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Muslim friend openly confessed to me he did not like Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama for two fundamental reasons: he is of Chinese descent and a Christian, an infidel in his view. He nodded when I added, “You also hate the way Ahok uses his mouth”.

Ahok is the perfect combination of everything that for many residents of Jakarta means he should not become their governor.

“To be honest with you, my faith forbids me from tolerating such a person,” he told me during a conversation near a riverbank one hot afternoon. I appreciate his honest and frank confession. We have been friends for more than 20 years although I am Catholic.

My friend is not alone. His stance is valid. Indonesia is the world’s third largest democracy after India and the US. He is a devout Muslim and his business is clean. For him, both the ethnic Chinese and Christianity are a symbol of the hegemony by the minority. Members of each group control Indonesia’s economy, even though Muslims are the majority in terms of numbers. I don’t blame him for having such an opinion, regardless of my own position.

He is a die-hard supporter of the Islamist Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), and voted for Lt. Gen. (ret) Prabowo Subianto in the 2014 presidential election. Joko “Jokowi” Widodo won the election and then handed over his position as Jakarta governor to his deputy Ahok.

I told my friend I also have problems with Ahok’s notorious mouth. The governor should attend an anger-management class.

“Look, this river is much cleaner now,” my friend said, pointing toward the water, now almost free of rubbish compared to the past.

“We also have fewer floods now,” I teased him. He smiled. A half-hearted thumb’s up for the governor, but it was still in progress.

In our latest meeting, my Muslim friend shared his experience in renewing his business permits at a city government office. He found it unbelievable that he could obtain the permit within three days and for free. He usually had to provide a bribe of about Rp 5 million (about US$375).

“This is the work of the infidel,” I teased him again. He smiled broadly.

He will likely continue to dislike Ahok, but he could not deny Jakarta is changing for the better no matter how small the progress is.

In 1999, or one year after the nation succeeded in forcing Soeharto to end his 32-year dictatorship, Indonesia held its first ever democratic election. Foreign countries and major international media representatives predicted the elections would be chaotic because Indonesians, with a majority population of Muslims, were not ready for democracy.

In 2009 and 2014, the nation held direct presidential elections. All were democratic, transparent and fair. When Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, the mayor of Surakarta, and Golkar legislator Ahok contested the Jakarta gubernatorial election in 2012, apparently no one predicted that only two years later, Jokowi would become the country’s 7th president and Ahok eventually stand as the first Christian and Chinese-Indonesian governor of Jakarta.

Long before the eccentric and erratic Donald Trump rocked the Republican Party establishment, Jokowi and Ahok had shocked the Indonesian political elites. Now the Filipinos will soon have Rodrigo Duterte as their president. But I believe both Trump and Duterte are merely following in the footsteps of Jokowi and Ahok. Am I chauvinistic with this statement?

On Feb. 2 next year, Jakartans will elect their new leader. So far, Ahok still does not have any meaningful contender running against him. Again, the majority of the residents of Jakarta are Muslims.

Will Ahok win the leadership contest? It is likely. One thing, however, that I am very sure of: Jakartans will follow their hearts in electing their leader. We have proved our maturity to the world. And next February we will demonstrate that same spirit again. — Kornelius Purba