JAKARTA. Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama has affirmed his intention to team up with city civil servant Heru Budi Hartono for next year’s election, dispelling rumors about Heru retracting his bid to run for the deputy governor post.
The rumors were circulating at City Hall on Monday and were only reinforced when Ahok responded to journalists’ questions on Monday by saying, “Maybe, Pak Heru wants to make way for Pak Djarot (to become deputy gubernatorial candidate)," said Ahok.
He was referring to Deputy Governor Djarot Saiful HIdayat, a member of the Indonesian Democratic party of Struggle (PDI-P), who initially had been put forward by his party as Ahok’s running mate, before Ahok decided to run as an independent.
But on Tuesday, Ahok confirmed that Heru remained his partner. “I have asked him. He said he had not withdrawn (from his commitment),” Ahok clarified, saying that Heru had become the subject of attacks from political rivals against both Ahok and Heru.
“He (Heru) told me that politics was burdensome for him, because we are attacked from various directions,” said Ahok, adding that his partner had told him that that situation caused him sleepless nights.
Ahok said he had explained to Heru that both of them were trying to carry out a change of mindset that was certainly not easy. “I told him, as long as the mental revolution is not accomplished, we will face difficulties.”
Meanwhile, political support group Teman Ahok (Friends of Ahok) said its volunteers had collected more than 900,000 photocopies of identity cards of Jakarta voters. That is more than enough for Ahok and Heru to run in the election without party backing, as regulations require prospective candidates to gather at least 532,000 IDs from Jakarta voters to run as independent candidates.
