Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama has said that he’ll run as an independent candidate in the 2017 Jakarta governor election, meaning that he’s not going to be officially endorsed by a political party. As a result, Ahok may not have as much access to political party money (although he may still receive donations from parties who support him) as the other candidates he will be facing.
To help close the gap, volunteer group Teman Ahok (Friends of Ahok) held a concert fundraiser over the weekend. Though the funds collected haven’t been counted yet, the event was reportedly crowded over two days and the group could end up meeting their target of raising Rp 1.4 billion from tickets and merchandise sales.
Following the event, Ahok said he’s keen to hold more fundraisers for his campaign. One idea he had is to charge people a fair amount of money to dine with him.
“So for the middle class, if they want to dine with me, they have to donate up to Rp 50 million in order to get a seat. As for the lower class, one table can be Rp 500,000 [each], but there must be 10 people [per table],” he said, as quoted by Detik yesterday.
Ahok went on to say that public fundraisers signal a new dawn for Indonesian politics, one in which candidates no longer have to always rely on political parties for funds.
“I think this is interesting as a transformative step for our politics,” he said.
Jakarta’s Regional General Election Commission (KPUD DKI) Head Sumarno said Ahok’s plan is still within the boundaries of the law.
“It’s fine, because the limit for individual donations is Rp 50 million,” he said.
Sumarno added that the law allows corporations to donate up to Rp 500 million to candidates.
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