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Ahok’s camp works to gain public trust
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Staying confident – Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama (on the stage, second from right) listens to complaints conveyed by Jakarta residents in an event at his campaign team headquarters Rumah Lembang in Menteng, Central Jakarta, on Nov.16. (Antara/Hafidz Mubarak A.)
T
he campaign team for Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama is not planning any major changes to its strategy after the National Police charged the incumbent gubernatorial candidate with blasphemy.
The team, however, said it would step up efforts to clarify Ahok’s legal case in the hope that voters would believe the governor was innocent and nothing but a victim of a flawed criminal justice system.
With the election day less than three months away, the team acknowledged the case would take a toll on his approval rating but was upbeat about rebuilding public trust. “We estimate that there could be a 5 to 10 percent drop in[ A ho k’ s] electability, but we still have time before the voting day to show people that he is being persecuted,” Ahok campaign team member Merry Hotma said on Thursday.
She added that the current campaign strategy — visiting residents or inviting them to the pair’s headquarters in Rumah Lembang in Menteng, Central Jakarta — would still prove effective in garnering support.
Ahok has been forced to make changes after facing continual disruptions on his campaign trail. Several people claiming to be local residents have rejected campaign stops by Ahok in certain areas in protest over religious blasphemy he allegedly committed.
On Thursday, Ahok made his routine appearance in Rumah Lembang. In front of an audience of hundreds, the governor said he had told his children they should be proud, because he had not been named a suspect in a graft case. The legal case against Ahok and the fact that he has was facing difficulties in carrying out his campaign would likely earn him sympathy from voters, NasDem Party executive Irma Suryani Chaniago said.
She argued that Indonesians were compassionate people and would easily empathize with Ahok.
“[Such a strategy] can actually turn the situation around. That is why a lot of state officials try to gain pity from the public [by presenting themselves as victims],” she continued.
Ahok’s supporters believe the criminal investigation into their candidate is politically motivated. Weeks before the police named Ahok a blasphemy suspect, social media users had been engaged in a heated argument on whether Ahok’s remarks in Thousand Islands regency in September were blasphemous.
The debate revolved around the word “pakai” or “using” in Ahok’s statement that some people “had been deceived [by other people] using Al-Maidah 51” of the Quran. Ahok’s supporters argue that the word “using” made all the difference, as it meant Ahok had been referring to the people misusing the Quran and not to the holy book itself.
Ahok’s campaign team leader Prasetyo Edi Marsudi concurred with Merry, saying what the party could do now was to convince the public of Ahok’s innocence. “In this case, Ahok is being victimized. We are hoping the people can see through this,” he said.
