Popular leader falls victim to hardliners
jakarta — Jakarta’s Christian governor, who was jailed for blasphemy Tuesday, won much praise for his efforts to clean up the traffic-choked megacity but his popularity could not save him from hardliners angered by his comments about Islam.
With his outspoken, combative style and can-do attitude, Basuki Tjahaja Purnama cut an unusual figure among the political elite in Indonesia, where politicians typically take a more gentle, persuasive approach.
But the tall, bespectacled politician, who was the city’s first non-Muslim governor for half a century and first ever ethnic Chinese leader, quickly overcame any doubts about his leadership as he took concrete steps to improve the city of 10 million.
The 50-year-old — known by his nickname Ahok — regularly railed against corruption in one of the world’s most graft-ridden countries and led sting operations to catch lazy bureaucrats, drawing praise from a public weary of the city’s inefficiences.
The former deputy governor inherited the top job in 2014 after his predecessor Joko Widodo won the presidency.
On Purnama’s watch, roads were repaired, more parks started appearing in the city and its notoriously filthy rivers were cleaned up.
Some of his policies — particularly a drive to evict poor, riverside communities — caused anger, but many Jakartans said their lives had changed for the better since he took power. Until the blasphemy controversy, he was favourite to win last month’s gubernatorial poll.
Aleksius Jemadu, a political expert at Pelita Harapan University near Jakarta, praised Purnama for his “courageous attitude”.
“Ahok is a rare figure, he’s fearless. He appeared when the Indonesian people were thirsting for an honest leader,” he said.
But it was never going to be easy for someone from a religious and ethnic minority to hang on to such a powerful position, particularly when he was not elected to it in the first place. —
ahok is a rare figure, he’s fearless. He appeared when the Indonesian people were thirsting for an honest leader.” Aleksius Jemadu, a political expert