Basuki Tjahaja Purnama - Ahok

This post will be different from other posts I've done previously. Why? Because it definitely is not ALL about me.

It's about someone else who I used to not very familiar with, but then due to my profession, I need to get to know him, and be verrryyy close with him every single day, perhaps.

About 8 months ago (or so, I don't quite remember) I started to get deployed to cover up all reports on The Jakarta City Hall or popular as Balaikota. Then off I go!

Before I got there, I had this big piling up nightmare in my head that I had to deal with some boring and complicated issues to write down about all the tangled threads problems in Jakarta. And yep, that was sooo right! When I first got there, I didn't understand any single words they talk about.

They talked about monorail project, Kartu Jakarta Pintar, river's revitalization, all sounded like alien language to me.

Well that seems pretty common for all newbies in anywhere. But in my case, I was really not interested. That was all too boring for me to adjust. Then time went by. I started to felt welcomed. Not by the topic of the issues I had to write but by fellow journalists who posted there. They are all fun people! And kind too, they helped me a lot with my work.

Working in City Hall, journalist have two options whether to cover The Governor Jokowi or The Deputy Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama. Me, particularly whenever I was not in the mood or when I felt tired, I will prefer to cover Ahok because I don't need to push my assoff chasing Jokowi while he was on "blusukan" day.

Being with Ahok, I just need to sit in press room nicely (which is not real a press room, it was initially a meeting room for the vice governor that we *journalists* invade while we are waiting for Ahok to appear to get door-stopped-interview). Mostly, while we were waiting Ahok to come out of his office, we used to browse the current news to get freshly-written issues, chit-chat, take selfies or you-tubing, or order foods.

Ok, now how is Ahok in real life in the eyes of me?

Hilarious

Yes, that was my first impression about him when I first knew him in person. Ahok is hilarious in a way he can dodged the answers for the questions we ask him in a witty and rude-y way (almost like the answers of street man). 

It was something you really don't expect coming out from a state official. But somehow, that is the real voice of people outside. Ahok said it well, true and innocent. For example, when we ask Ahok's opinion about shocking incident of ammunition explosion from the Marines depot in Tanjung Priok on March 6, Ahok innocently replied: "That's why, don't keep old ammunition, Boss!" Ahok said the military should get rid off the old ammunition and weapons from a long time ago and make revitalization instead of keeping the old ones. Ahok *off the record-ly questions what they did with the money*

As an Indonesian state official, Ahok in fact had plenty of "bullshits" options to respond to media's question regarding that incident, in order to elevate his image in front of people and save his position in front of his superiors, but NO! He said what he thought he needed to say, to anyone, anywhere.

I'm a merely newbie reporter, what do I know? but to me that's interestingly witty.

Another example is when Ahok accused home minister don't understand about the Constitution. He said to all journalists to tell the home minister he should learn more about the [1945] Constitution as The Home Minister Gamawan Fauzi suggested Lenteng Agung subsudistrict head Susan Jasmine Zulkifli, who had faced protest from a small portion of residents because she was a Christian, should be replaced.

Ahok argued that only 52.7 percent of Jakartans voted for him and Jakarta Governor Jokowi, meaning almost 4 million people did not vote for them. But that did not mean they must step down because they were disliked or rejected by the majority.

“If those four million people protested in front of City Hall and demanded our resignations, would the home minister consider replacing us? Would we be not suitable to govern Jakarta?” he said.

Ahok who is Christian said that government officials should comply with the Constitution, not their constituents.

Well, about those two example maybe you all guys have read on newspapers or online news media, but here are the fact about Ahok you might don't know:

1. He is the one who told us, journalists, if we want to get new cell phones, we got to drop our cell phone while interviewing him, and so he will change it with the new and expensive one. But that was a joke, even he kindly offered that we know the boundaries.

2. He was so caring with others.

He always asked his assistants to check whether we already had meals while waiting for him outside his office. If we said we haven't had eaten, he will get us food.

3. He like to celebrate our birthday!

Once, my fellow journalist is having a birthday and so he get her a big birthday cheesecake (Rp500.000). When we accused he bought that cake with regional budgets, he shrugged off and said that was his private operational cost.

"That was my operational cost, I can use it for anything I like," he said that time.

And because this birthday girl is a big fan of one of the officials in DKI, Ahok tried to get him to come celebrate the birthday in his office. But unfortunately that official couldn't make it. So to paid off, Ahok put on peci and sarung in order to looked like that official.

"How do I  look? Am I look like him already? You get to click me from aside so that I look like him" he said to us.