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Your ID cards for me are not useless: Ahok
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Governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama speaks to journalists after announcing his decision to run in next year's Jakarta gubernatorial election on a party-political ticket in Jakarta on Wednesday. (The Jakarta Post/rez)
G
overnor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama, who has decided to run in the election with political party support, urged his supporters to support his decision without making a fuss about the photocopies of one million identity cards that had been gathered by Teman Ahok.
On the Teman Ahok (Friends of Ahok) official website, it states that its volunteers had managed to collect 1,034,773 copies of Jakarta voter ID cards, more than enough for Ahok to run as an independent candidate in the 2017 Jakarta gubernatorial election.
"Your ID cards for me won't be in vain. If any of my voters are disappointed with my decision, I should ask them, do you support me to be governor again or are you against political parties?" Ahok said at City Hall on Thursday.
Ahok said the independent process was more complicated, especially the verification process. Ahok once said that going with Teman Ahok meant he had to take the rough road, while going with political parties would mean he could use the "toll road".
"Now the candidacy process is simple because I will be with political parties. We're not against political parties," Ahok said.
On Wednesday, Ahok declared that he would run as a governor candidate with political parties that supported him – the Golkar Party, Gerindra Party and Nasdem. Teman Ahok members who witnessed the declaration said that they would continue to support Ahok. (bbn)
