Basuki Tjahaja Purnama
Basuki Tjahaja Purnama is an Indonesian businessman, and former governor of Jakarta. He is colloquially known by his Hakka Chinese name, Ahok. He was the first ethnic Chinese governor of Jakarta and the first non-Austronesian governor of Jakarta and also of the Protestant faith, following Henk Ngantung, who was the sole Catholic and Austronesian Minahasan governor to hold office from 1964–65.
Ahok was a legislator in the Indonesian People's Representative Council and Regent of East Belitung. He was elected to the House of Representatives for the 2009–2014 term but resigned in 2012 to run for the deputy governorship of Jakarta, to which he was elected. In November 2014, he became governor of Jakarta, as his predecessor Joko Widodo had become president. Ahead of the 2017 Jakarta gubernatorial election, Ahok's political rivals aligned themselves with Islamic extremists to exploit religious and racial intolerance, resulting in Ahok being accused of blasphemy in October 2016. He then lost the election to former Minister of Education and Culture Anies Baswedan and was imprisoned for blasphemy.
Early life
Family and personal life
Basuki Tjahaja Purnama was born to ethnic Chinese parents of Hakka descent on 29 June 1966 and grew up in Manggar, East Belitung. He is the first son of Buniarti Ningsih and the late Indra Tjahaja Purnama. He has three siblings: Basuri Tjahaja Purnama, Fifi Lety, and Harry Basuki.Ahok firstly married Veronica Tan, a fellow ethnic Chinese of Teochew ancestry who hailed from Medan on 6 September 1997 and the couple had three children: Nicolas Sean, Nathania and Daud Albeneer. They divorced in 2018, with Ahok gaining custody of the two younger children. Their first child, Nicholas Sean, was of age and thus entitled to determine his own custody status. In 2019, Ahok married Puput Nastiti Devi, a police officer who had previously served as an aide of his ex-wife, and the couple have two children: Yosafat Abimanyu and Sarah Eliana.
Education
Ahok attended Trisakti University, majoring in mineral resources and technology. He graduated with a bachelor of science degree in geological engineering in 1989 and returned to his hometown in Belitung to build a company that dealt in mining contracts.After two years of working in the company, he decided to pursue a master's degree in financial management at Prasetiya Mulya Business School in Jakarta. He graduated with a Master of Business Administration.
Political career
Early involvement with politics
Ahok entered politics in his home region of Belitung. He contested the 2005 East Belitung regent election with Khairul Effendi as his running mate and was elected with 37.13% of the vote. He was hopeful Indonesia was breaking with its long and often violent history of prejudice and resentment. He is nicknamed "The Father" and "The Law" for his firm stance against corruption. Ahok confronted vital issues related to traffic congestion, labour, corruption and bureaucracy. He mediated a minimum wage increase, proposed incentives for street vendors to move to designated markets in order to reduce congestion, migrated poor villagers to new flats, introduced surprise inspections of government offices, and proposed installing CCTVs to improve accountability.2007 Bangka-Belitung governor election
Ahok resigned from his position as East Belitung regent on 11 December 2006 in order to run in the 2007 Bangka-Belitung gubernatorial election. He later credited former Indonesian president Abdurrahman Wahid, for convincing him to run for public office. Wahid supported Ahok's candidacy and praised his healthcare reforms. However, Ahok was defeated by Eko Maulana Ali.In 2008, Ahok wrote a biography titled Merubah Indonesia.
Parliamentary career (2009–2012)
In 2009, Ahok was elected to the DPR as a member of Golkar. He was elected with 119,232 votes, and was assigned to the Second Commission. In 2011, he generated controversy in a visit to his local constituency, during which he was recorded by the local media condemning local tin mining businesses for causing environmental damage. The comment was regarded as an insult by a local youth NGO, who reported him to the House Ethics Committee.Jakarta's deputy governor (2012–2014)
In 2011, Ahok considered running for Jakarta governor as an independent candidate. However, he opted not to run, as he was pessimistic about his chances of receiving 250,000 signatures, a requirement for running as an independent gubernatorial candidate in Jakarta. He then became the running mate of Joko Widodo in the 2012 election. The pair won 1,847,157 votes in the first round, and 2,472,130 in the second round, defeating incumbent governor Fauzi Bowo. The ticket was nominated by the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle and the Great Indonesia Movement Party. On 10 September 2014, Ahok left Gerindra because he opposed the party's proposal to scrap direct elections for local leaders.Governorship (2014–2017)
When Joko Widodo took a temporary leave from his post as Jakarta governor to campaign for the presidency, Ahok became acting Governor of Jakarta from 1 June to 22 July 2014. Following Jokowi's victory, he succeeded him as governor and was sworn into office on 18 November 2014.One of the most notable acts of his governorship was the creation of the Public Facility Maintenance Agency on 13 May 2015, which established cleaning and maintenance crews at the kelurahan level. It has been cited as one of his most successful programs, and received widespread approval from residents. The program would be continued by his successors, and was even praised by his competitor during campaigning in the 2017 election.
In October 2015, the State Audit Board commenced an investigation into the city's procurement of 3.7 hectares of land adjacent to Sumber Waras Hospital in West Jakarta for a cardiac and cancer center. The city administration bought the land in 2014 for Rp775.69 billion, but BPK subsequently said the land should have cost Rp564.35 billion, so the purchase had caused a state loss of Rp191 billion. The Corruption Eradication Commission questioned Ahok over the case in 2016 and cleared him of any wrongdoing. Anti-corruption activist Boyamin Saiman claimed he had evidence of corruption and demanded Ahok be held accountable. Corruption allegations were also made over an allegedly fallacious land purchase made by the city administration in Cengkareng, West Jakarta, on 13 November 2015, with a marked-up price causing an estimated state loss of Rp600 billion. In December 2020, South Jakarta District Court heard a pre-trial hearing over the Cengkareng land procurement case.
2017 reelection bid
Ahok initially had declared to run for the 2017 Jakarta gubernatorial election as an independent candidate with Teman Ahok, a group of volunteers responsible for collecting over one million Resident Identity Cards, representing supporters required by Indonesian law to be eligible to run on an independent ticket. Due to a new state regulation that tightened the requirements for independent candidates, Ahok ran on the party tickets of three political parties, who previously endorsed him earlier in 2016. They were Golkar, the People's Conscience Party, and the NasDem Party. On 20 September 2016, the PDI-P declared its support for Ahok.In the first round of voting on 15 February 2017, Ahok entered into the second-round between two candidates, having secured approximately 43% of the vote, ahead of Anies Baswedan with 40%, and well ahead of Agus Yudhoyono with 17%. Quick counts for the 19 April runoff indicated that Anies Baswedan was elected as governor; Ahok conceded defeat hours after the polls closed. The official results of the runoff were published by General Elections Commissions in May, and Anies Baswedan was elected as the new governor of Jakarta.
Target of racism
As a member of a minority ethnic group, Ahok has become the subject of occasional racist comments. During the campaign, he was regularly targeted by ultra-conservatives and supporters of rival candidates for being of Chinese descent. Furthermore, his "double minority" background, being both Christian and of Chinese descent, has made him the target of the hardline Islamic Defenders Front. The group called for a revision of a Jakarta constitution to remove some of the governor's responsibilities for government-affiliated Islamic organisations. In 2016, Indonesian Army General Suryo Prabowo commented that Ahok should "know his place lest the Indonesian Chinese face the consequences of his action". This controversial comment was considered to hearken back to previous violence against Chinese Indonesians.Blasphemy allegations and imprisonment
On 27 September 2016, while introducing a government project to citizens of the Thousand Islands, Ahok said some citizens would not vote for him because they were being "threatened and deceived" by those using the verse Al-Ma'ida 51 of the Qur'an and variations of it. The provincial government of Jakarta uploaded the video recording to YouTube in a channel which often featured Ahok's activities. The video was later edited by Buni Yani, a university lecturer, who omitted the word 'using' from the transcript. This omission led to a misinterpretation of Basuki's statement, making it appear as though he was labeling the verse itself as deceitful. The video went viral, with some citizens considering it an insult to the Quran. Ahok received threats of lynching and was widely criticised in social media such as Facebook and Twitter. Several Change.org petitions were filed, initiated by both his supporters and critics, garnering tens of thousands of signatures.Some groups, such as the FPI, or the local chapter of the Indonesian Ulema Council, reported Ahok to the police, accusing him of having violated Indonesia's blasphemy law. On 10 October 2016, Ahok publicly apologised to those he offended with his statement, stating that it was not his intention to do so and that some of his policies had benefited Muslims, such as granting permits for Islamic schools, providing Jakarta Smart Cards to the students, and building a mosque in the City Hall complex. He also pointed out that during his Thousand Islands speech, the residents were not insulted, and even amused during his recitation.
On 9 May 2017, Ahok was sentenced to two years in prison by North Jakarta District Court after being found guilty of blasphemy and inciting violence. The panel of judges rejected his defence that he referred to a Quranic verse to highlight political discrimination. Based on the court hearing,
the panel of judges said that his Thousand Islands speech contained elements of blasphemy. The chief judge maintained that Ahok's statement considered the Al-Maidah verse as a tool to deceive or a source of lies. He said the verse is part of the Quran, and that anyone who quotes it should not have any intent of deception. The judges took into consideration a book Ahok had written in 2008 titled Changing Indonesia. His book was judged as proof that he understood the verse in question. They determined the word aulia in the verse could be defined as a leader, thus declaring that Ahok's remarks to be degrading and insulting to the Quran. They also agreed with expert witnesses in the trial that Ahok's remarks were a blasphemous offence.