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Ahok campaign team expects change in election discourse
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Staying optimistic – Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama poses for a picture with actress Astrid Tiar during a campaign event at his election headquarters at Rumah Lembang in Menteng, Central Jakarta, on Nov.18. (Antara/Hafidz Mubarak A.)
P
olitical discourse during the 2017 Jakarta gubernatorial election campaign has become largely sectarian as Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama, a Christian of Chinese descent, is being accused of blasphemy, the incumbent candidate’s campaign team said.
Ahok’s campaign team spokesman Raja Juli Antoni said the election campaign’s sectarian discourse had influenced the perceptions of Jakarta's residents, which were once positive toward the governor.
He said it was expected that all Jakarta voters could better understand the nature of the blasphemy charges made against Ahok because the legal process was still underway.
“President [Joko] 'Jokowi' [Widodo] has also promised not to intervene in the case. It means the legal process is running independently,” Raja told The Jakarta Post in an interview at Ahok’s campaign team headquarters, Rumah Lembang, in Menteng, Central Jakarta, on Wednesday.
He said it was also hoped that the two other candidates for governor, Anies Baswedan and Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono, could help change the current political discourse, which has tended to be sectarian.
“We hope Mas Anies and Mas Agus can start implementing what they have called a 'Jakarta election, a festival of thoughts’,” Raja said. He said it was important for the two candidates to tell their supporters to start engaging in constructive discussions.
“Mas Anies and Mas Agus can speak out to change the discourse," Raja said.
Ahok has been a subject of sectarian attacks since video footage of him, edited to make his recorded remarks sound blasphemous, went viral on social media last month. The National Police named the governor a blasphemy suspect on Nov.16.
Previously, a group called the Forum of Jakartans also encouraged the three candidates to channel the current political discourse to more important issues. The group suggested the candidates discuss, for instance, the skyrocketing land prices in Jakarta that make living in the city more unaffordable for people. (ebf)
