Ahok, much praised by his supporters for his strong and brave policies on scrapping wasteful expenditure, must leave the job to the Home Ministry’s Director General for Regional Autonomy Sumarsono, popularly known as Soni, who was inaugurated as acting governor on Wednesday.

The 2016 Regional Elections Law requires Ahok and Deputy Governor Djarot Saiful Hidayat, as incumbent candidates, to take leave during the campaign period from Oct. 28, 2015 to Feb. 11, 2017.

Ahok and Djarot officially handed over leadership of the city administration temporarily to Soni at the Home Ministry.

The latter will be in charge of the city administration and continue the deliberation of the 2017 city budget expected to be endorsed by the administration and the Jakarta City Council in November.

Home Minister Tjahjo Kumolo brushed off concerns suggesting Soni could change the course of deliberations of the budget and programs.

“[Soni] will not be the only one who will work on the budget drafting. There will also be the City Council and other officials in the administration,” the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) politician said.

Tjahjo gave an assurance that Sumarsono would only continue the work already started by Ahok, Djarot and the city’s officials, including when it came to drafting the budget.

Soni echoed Tjahjo’s statement saying it was unlikely he would make any changes to the draft 2017 budget without the involvement of the city’s officials. He also claimed he would not create any new programs for 2017 as there would be not be sufficient time.

“I will be the one authorized to sign the 2017 budget but it will certainly only be done with agreement from the Home Minister,” he said.

Ahok, who also attended the inauguration ceremony, meanwhile, expressed optimism that Soni would be able to carry out his tasks well.

“We hope everything will be fine and we still can cooperate together,” he said during his speech.

In 2015, Ahok faced a conflict with City Council members when he unilaterally submitted a draft budget to the Home Ministry. He claimed the budget drawn up by the City Council was full of questionable allocations.

He also reported the alleged irregularities, as well as those found in the 2012 to 2014 budgets, to the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).

The moved turned many city councillors against Ahok with some calling for an inquiry to investigate whether Ahok had breached regulations regarding the draft budget.

The row eventually subsided after the Home Ministry stepped in to mediate between the city administration and the city council.

Previously, Ahok filed a petition with the Constitutional Court in a bid to scrap the articles in the 2016 elections law requiring incumbent candidates to take leave during the campaign period.

He insisted on being present in the administration to assist in the drafting of the 2017 budget until it was endorsed.

As of Wednesday, the Court had yet to decide on his petition.

Also on Wednesday, the Home Ministry inaugurated Director General for Village Administrations Nata Irawan as the acting governor of Banten, temporarily replacing incumbent Rano Karno, who will run in Banten’s gubernatorial election next year.

It is not the first time Soni has served as acting governor as substitute for an incumbent governor running in an election. Last year, he served as acting governor of North Sulawesi for five months.

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