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Teman Ahok expects Khan’s victory to inspire Jakarta voters
Sadiq Khan’s victory as the first Muslim mayor of London is expected to inspire Jakarta voters to elect a governor based on the capacity and track record of a candidate and not based on antiquated views, such as racial and religious background, says Teman Ahok (Friends of Ahok).
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People fill in forms to support Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama at the Teman Ahok secretariat in Graha Pejaten, South Jakarta on March. 21. Teman Ahok or Friends of Ahok opened the office to collect identity card photocopies of Jakartans for Ahok's bid to run as an independent candidate in the 2017 Jakarta Gubernatorial Election. (Antara/Reno Esnir)
S
adiq Khan’s victory as the first Muslim mayor of London is expected to inspire Jakarta voters to elect a candidate as governor based on their capacity and track record and not based on antiquated views, such as race and religion, says Teman Ahok (Friends of Ahok).
Teman Ahok is a group of volunteers, who support incumbent Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama and help him collect photocopies of voter identity cards required by law for him to run as an independent candidate.
Teman Ahok spokeswoman Amalia Ayuningtyas said on Saturday that the group supported the incumbent not because of his Chinese and Christian Indonesian background, but because the volunteers believed that Ahok had improved the city in his two years in office.
“Even if he follows another religion or comes from another race, we keep supporting him because of his competence as a leader,” Amalia told thejakartapost.com.
The Associated Press reported on Saturday that Khan became London's first Muslim mayor on Saturday, as voters rejected smear campaigns linking him to extremism, as the son of a South London bus driver was handed a decisive victory.
The Labour Party politician received more than 1.3 million votes, 57 percent, compared to conservative rival Zac Goldsmith's 43 percent. Khan, who calls himself "the British Muslim who will take the fight to extremists," accused Goldsmith of trying to scare and divide voters in a proudly multicultural city of 8.6 million people with more than a million Muslims.
Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama congratulated Khan through his Twitter account: @basuki_btp: “Congratulations @SadiqKhan, the new mayor of London. Inspiring story of democracy, merit and tolerance.”
Amalia said that Ahok derived support for reelection because he had made significant improvements to Jakarta, particularly in reforming the bureaucracy and preventing the embezzlement of city funds.
She said the group had now managed to collect 771,435, which exceeded the general election commission (KPU) requirement for an independent candidate to run in the 2017 gubernatorial election of 532,000 copies of ID cards.
Separately, Charta Politika Indonesia executive director Yunarto Wijaya believed like Khan, Ahok had a great chance to be reelected. He believed the majority of Jakartans no longer held antiquated views. He said voters would use rationality to vote for a leader.
He cited the election of now-President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo as a city governor back in 2012, who took Ahok as a running mate, despite his minority background. “Voters now look at the leadership and track record of candidates. They vote based on meritocracy, not antiquated considerations,” Yunarto said.
Senior political analyst with the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) Siti Zuhro said Indonesian people had become open-minded to receiving leaders from minorities.
“Racial and religious issues are not a problem. Just look at the New Order era, where the leader of the regime [Soeharto] was Javanese and Muslim but we could see the public resentment towards his governance,” Siti said.
Any perspective that deems Indonesians as still being intolerant is not valid any more. Racial and religious issues were fading away, especially when supported by sincere leaders of good character, Siti said. (bbn)
