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akarta gubernatorial candidate Anies Baswedan and his running mate Sandiaga Uno are leading in exit polls and quick counts by around 16 percent against the incumbent Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama and Deputy Governor Djarot Saiful Hidayat after the April 19 runoff.

Reflecting back at the past six months of campaigning, wherein both camps traded nasty blows against each other, there seems to be two Jakartas separated by an inequality in financial standings, educational background and religious affiliations. The fact that inequality itself persists makes separating these two Jakartas all too easy.

I remember my first encounter with these two Jakartas around six years ago. Then a student at Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta, I arrived star-struck at one of Jakarta’s five-star hotels for an international conference on futurology: an approach to anticipate future trends in the 21st century.

Several hours after leaving the conference venue, I boarded one of the city’s dying Metro Mini buses amid a vastly different audience. The farthest thought the latter group has about the future is providing food for their family members.

Like the two Jakartans I met then, there are also two Jakartans today: a Jakartan that wants reforms under the incumbent, Ahok; and a Jakartan that places its hopes on Anies. These two Jakartas coexist and both have equal rights to be. One is not necessarily less legitimate than the other.

As the governorship is transferred from Ahok to Anies, the imminent question is whether Anies can unite these two Jakartas.

As the incoming governor, Anies should ideally lead Jakarta as one entity instead of two. Akin to Anies’ statements during his campaign and debate, he is a servant to all of Jakarta and not just to those who voted for him.

On the other hand, Ahok supporters also need to accept the fact that their champion was defeated in an open political contestation and not in a rigged system — nor is there confusion between the popular and electoral votes.

Likewise, Anies-Sandiaga supporters should understand that victory is not a license to impose their will against the minority, whose rights should be respected and protected in the first place. Anies and Sandiaga clearly have the right educational backgrounds and exposure to full-fledged democratic societies.

In the policy arena, however, it will be tricky to heal and unite the different constituencies. Anies himself once said, “While the system and democratic institutions are imperfect, their actors have an important role in ensuring that democracy functions properly.”

Now, fate has given Anies the opportunity to be that “actor” he spoke of, and design policies and programs that re-weave the national unity many have accused him of destroying. Revisiting the question above, it seems that it will be unlikely that Anies can unite Jakarta. No, Anies cannot unite Jakarta; not by himself.

Learning from other democracies, our civic duties as citizens do not end when we cast the ballot for one pair of candidates and spend the next five years merely criticizing the other.

Similar to elected officials, citizens are also actors with equally important roles to play in society. We too need to start bridging the gap between these two Jakartas.

As dutiful members of Jakarta’s society, we can start by improving the way we engage others who do not share our points of view. For instance, we can start by treating our app-based ride-hailing drivers more humanely.

Making our social media timeline homogenous to our perspective will do us no good in ensuring that the gap is closing. Labeling those who cannot follow our perfect logical thinking as “stupid” will not do either.

Anies’ role as governor is to ensure there is a healthy and secure environment for Jakartans to bridge their differences. Part of that is by guaranteeing Jakartans can interact with each other in a public sphere without fear of being bullied or harassed.

One way the governor-elect can do this is by continuing Ahok’s program that provides open and green public spaces wherein Jakartans can connect with each other. Issuing more licenses to build malls, on the other hand, will solidify the gap instead of closing it.

The second part is by maintaining the momentum of reform that Ahok started. In doing so, Anies should continue governing with meritocracy and accountability, open all possible access for Jakartans to meet their governor and enhance Jakarta’s smart city platform, among others.

Jakartans are less likely to conform if the next governor is lenient toward corrupt practices omnipresent in the city’s administration and representation.

All in all, Anies and Sandiaga have lots of ground to cover, promises to deliver and interests to balance, as neither has ever been elected to public office before.
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The writer, who graduated from Johns Hopkins University’s Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), is Indonesian project manager of Enveritas.