Basuki Tjahaja Purnama

Basuki Tjahaja Purnama 鍾萬學[1]
17th Governor of Jakarta
Incumbent
Assumed office 19 November 2014 On Leave from 28 October 2016 Acting: 1 June–22 July 2014 and 16 October–19 November 2014
President	Joko Widodo
Deputy	Djarot Saiful Hidayat
Preceded by	Joko Widodo
Vice Governor of Jakarta
In office 15 October 2012 – 19 November 2014
Governor	Joko Widodo
Preceded by	Prijanto
Succeeded by	Djarot Saiful Hidayat
3rd Regent of East Belitung
In office 3 August 2005 – 22 December 2006
Deputy	Khairul Efendi
Preceded by	Usman Saleh
Succeeded by	Khairul Efendi
Member of the Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat
In office 1 October 2009 – 26 April 2012
Constituency	Bangka Belitung
Personal details
Born	Basuki Tjahaja Purnama (1966-06-29) 29 June 1966 Manggar, Belitung, Indonesia
Political party	Independent (September 2014–present) Gerindra (2012–2014) Golkar (2008–2012)
Spouse(s)	Veronica Tan
Relations	Indra Tjahaja Purnama (father) Buniarti Ningsih (mother)
Children	Nicholas Sean Purnama Nathania Daud Albeenner
Alma mater	Trisakti University STIE Prasetiya Mulya
Profession	Politician
Religion	Protestantism
Website	ahok.org

Basuki Tjahaja Purnama (EYD: Basuki Cahaya Purnama, Chinese: 鍾萬學; Tjung Ban Hok; pinyin: Zhōng Wànxué; born 29 June 1966) is an Indonesian politician serving as the 17th Governor of Jakarta since 14 November 2014 after his team mate Governor Joko Widodo was elected President. Basuki was inaugurated by President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) on 18 November 2014.^[2] He is well known by his Hakka Chinese nickname, Ahok (Chinese: 阿學).

Basuki was also a Komisi II Indonesian People's Representative Council member for the 2009–2014 office term. However, he resigned from the position in 2012 to run for Vice Governor of Jakarta. Previously he is Regent of East Belitung.^[3]

Basuki is the second governor with Chinese ancestry and the second Christian governor of Jakarta, following Henk Ngantung, who was governor during the period 1964–65.^[4][5]

Personal life

Early life

Basuki was born on 29 June 1966 and grew up in Manggar, East Belitung. He is the first son of his mother Buniarti Ningsih (Boen Nen Tjauw) and his father, the late Indra Tjahaja Purnama (Tjoeng Kiem Nam).^[6] Basuki has three siblings, Basuri Tjahaja Purnama, Fifi Lety, and Harry Basuki.

Education

Basuki attended Trisakti University majoring in Mineral Resources & 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 which dealt in mining contracts.

After two years working in the company, he decided to pursue master's degree in Financial Management at Prasetiya Mulya Business School in Jakarta. He graduated as a Master of Business Administration (MBA).^[7]

Political career

Early involvement with politics

Basuki entered politics in his home region of Belitung. He ran in the 2005 East Belitung regent election with Khairul Effendi as his running mate and was elected as regent with 37.13% of the vote.

2007 Bangka-Belitung gubernatorial election and book

Basuki resigned from his position as East Belitung regent on 11 December 2006 in order to run in the 2007 Bangka-Belitung gubernatorial election then failed.

Parliamentary career

In 2009, Basuki was elected to the House of Representatives, as a Golkar politician. He was elected with 119,232 votes ^[8] and was assigned to the Second Commission.^[9] In 2011, he created a controversy during a visit to his local constituency. He was recorded by the local media condemning local tin mining businesses for causing environmental damage even He himself operating a mining at Gunung Nayo while still on a name of Basuki Indra.^[10]

Jakarta's deputy governor

In 2011, Basuki considered campaigning for Jakarta governor as an independent. However, he decided not to run as he was pessimistic about his chances of getting 250 thousand signatures, the requirement for running as an independent gubernatorial candidate in Jakarta.^[11] He then ran with Joko Widodo in the 2012 election as Widodo's running mate. Jokowi and Basuki won 1.847.157 (42,60%) votes in the first round, and 2.472.130 (53,82%) in the second round, defeating incumbernt governor Fauzi Bowo.^[12][13] The ticket was nominated by the Indonesian Democratic Party – Struggle (PDI-P) and the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra).^[14]

On 10 September 2014, Basuki left Gerindra due to a dispute on a proposed bill on regional elections. Since then he has been politically unaffiliated.

Governorship

When Joko Widodo took a temporary leave from his post as Jakarta governor to run for President, Basuki became the acting Governor of Jakarta from 1 June 2014. Following Jokowi's victory, he succeeded him as governor and was sworn into office on 18 November 2014.

Quran blaspheming allegation

On 4 November 2016, hundreds of thousands of Muslims staged a large protest in front of the State Palace (Istana Negara) demanding that Ahok be apprehended by police for allegedly blaspheming the Quran. This protest is related to a video of Ahok's speech in Kepulauan Seribu that has brought about the allegations and went viral among the nation.^[15] In the video, Ahok said people should not be deceived by those using Surat Al-Ma'ida verse 51 to not elect non-Muslims as their leaders.

This is not the only time where controversy has followed Ahok. He has often been criticised by opposing parties for being too direct and unfiltered with his words, though it is a quality that has also endeared him to the people. Indonesia Broadcast Commission has categorised Ahok act as Seven Dirty Words.^[16]

On 16 November Ahok was named a suspect of blaspheming the Quran by Indonesia Law, during his campaign visit for Jakarta's 2017 Gubernatorial Election.^[17]

2017 Jakarta Special Capital Region gubernatorial election

Basuki initially had declared to run for 2017 Jakarta Special Capital Region gubernatorial election as an independent candidate with Teman Ahok, a group of volunteers responsible for collecting over one million identity cards, representing over one million supporters required by Indonesian law to be eligible to run from an independent ticket. Due to a new state regulation that struck the independent candidate requirements to run for gubernatorial election, Teman Ahok failed to verify all of the IDs collected. Ahok then is set to run from a political party ticket with three political parties who declared endorsements earlier in 2016 leaving Teman Ahok abandoned.^[18] The parties are Golkar, People's Conscience Party, and Nasdem Party. The decision has let Teman Ahok to be disappointed considering Ahok's promise to prefer abandoning the election rather than leaving Teman Ahok.^[19]

References