Pramono and his deputy governor Rano Karno, both politicians of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), were among the 961 elected regional heads who President Prabowo Subianto inaugurated last Thursday in the country’s largest-ever swearing-in ceremony.

Following the ceremony, the pair were welcomed with cheers at the capital’s city hall for a handover from Jakarta’s acting governor Teguh Setyabudi. Former governors, such as Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama of the PDI-P and Anies Baswedan, who is not affiliated with any political party, were also present, but former president and former PDI-P member Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, who led the capital from 2012 to 2014, was absent. Jokowi cited a scheduling conflict as the reason for his absence.

Pramono expressed his readiness to receive the baton of leadership from his immediate predecessor Anies and promised to serve the Jakarta residents well for the next five years.

“I need all of your help to make Jakarta a praiseworthy city. My predecessors have left an extraordinary legacy, […] and I really want to improve and build on it,” Pramono said in his first speech at the city hall after the inauguration last week.

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Home to over 11 million people, Jakarta is one of the largest metropoles in Southeast Asia and is the financial, cultural and political hub of the country. Its gubernatorial position is widely seen as a springboard for the presidency, as in the case of Jokowi in 2014.