TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Jakarta gubernatorial candidate Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama said that he feels sorry for those who had spread a fake report saying that he had an argument with his running mate Djarot Saiful Hidayat. “I think, they are trying too hard to the point where they said that I threw a tissue paper [box] to Djarot that sent him to a hospital,” Ahok said yesterday during an impromptu walkabout campaign in Ulujami, South Jakarta.
Earlier, an anonymous broadcast message had been circulating saying that Ahok had an argument with Djarot for the latter’s move to launch a door-to-door fund-raising activity despite the fact that the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP) had never instructed Djarot to do so.
Ahok was said to have attacked Djarot with a glass cup and a tissue paper box. The message even said that the inactive Jakarta governor had punched his running mate that sent him to Mayapada Hospital. Ahok’s reaction to the report was: “You think I have a special power? [To attack someone], sending him to a hospital with only a tissue paper [box]? Oh my,” Ahok said.
Ahok-Djarot campaign team member David Rahardja said that the broadcast message was a defamatory, cheap shot against the pairing. “We are unstoppable. Other contenders are always finding ways to harm Ahok-Djarot electability with vile, cheap defamatory rumors. Ahok-Djarot pair is very solid, we are focused on working hard for Jakarta residents,” David said in a written statement.
David added that the incumbent candidates have a very harmonious relationship, citing that they visited Indonesian third president Bacharuddin Jusuf Habibie’s house together on Wednesday.
FRISKI RIANA
