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fter being criticized for not being pro poor in his leadership, incumbent Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama has focused on wooing the sick and elderly by spending most of his campaign time visiting ailing residents in the third week of the runoff campaign.

On Thursday, the inactive governor paid a visit to the houses of sick residents on Jl. Kalibaru, Cilincing, North Jakarta.

One of the residents visited by Ahok was Rosna, 72, who has been immobile since she slipped and fell during flooding in the capital last month.

After seeing Rosna’s condition, Ahok vowed to give her a wheelchair. He then asked Rosna’s daughter, Irmalasari, about the health care that Rosna had been receiving.

“Pak Ahok asked whether she [Rosna] was registered with the Healthcare and Social Security Agency [BPJS Kesehatan]. He also asked us whether hospital representatives had visited us,” Irma said.

The embattled governor said his visit was aimed at seeing whether the Jakarta Health Agency’s program, called Ketuk Pintu Layani Dengan Hati (Knock on Doors, Serve with Heart), which obliges doctors to monitor residents’ health by visiting them at home, had been implemented well.

“I want to monitor the program and check whether the actual service is in line with the reports [received by the administration]. We also want to see the challenges in implementing this program,” Ahok said.

Ahok said that some community healthcare center (Puskesmas) doctors had failed to reach out to residents in their areas due to a lack of communication between the doctors and neighborhood unit (RT) heads.

Besides monitoring the progress of the city’s healthcare program, Ahok said he would implement a new program called Gold Program, targeting pregnant women and the elderly in the city, should he be re-elected.

Through the program, the administration will distribute the Jakarta Elderly Card (KJL) to elderly people who are poor and have no relatives to take care of them.

“Right now, there are 12,000 [elderly] with incomes of less than Rp 2 million [US$150] per month. They are more than 70 years old. There are more than 50,000 who have an income of less than Rp 3 million. We already have the data,” said Ahok.

Those who are issued the cards will receive Rp 600,000 per month from the administration. The money cannot be withdrawn from ATMs, but have to be used to pay for goods.

Ahok claimed that the program for the elderly was not a new program aiming to lure elderly voters, saying that he had been helping elderly people for a long time through operational funds.

“Who criticized [the program]? Do you want me to release a list of elderly people to whom I have given [financial assistance] using my operational funds?” he said.

The financial assistance, however, cannot reach all poor elderly people in the city, which is why the program needs to be officially included in the regional budget.

Ahok also plans to deploy Jakarta Red Troops to renovate needy residents’ houses.

Basri Basco, a member of Ahok’s campaign team from the Jakarta chapter of the Golkar Party, said the camp hoped to win voters’ hearts with this approach.

“We hope to get voters’ support with this approach so that people who didn’t vote for Ahok will vote for him, while his supporters will be more convinced to do so,” he said.