Jakarta #1

At Wednesday we were holding an election for DKI Jakarta governor. Through quick count many surveyor was astonished by how they have been wrong. All of them predicted Foke as the winner.

Jokowi wins the first round.

Funny thing, some of them blame voter that chose not to vote. They said that the people who vote for Foke took vacation at the day -- lame. Some says it because of Megawati and Prabowo influence.

I don't know how they surveyed the majority, but Jokowi to be a winner is nothing to be surprised of. Let me tell you the reason:

1. To many Indonesian, especially people who read quality news, Jokowi already proven as one of the 10 best regional leader by Tempo 2008. Ahok was known as the man who lived by his word. He always put his accounting online on his site to show people. On top of that, he was the Bupati (leader) of Bangka Belitung.
2. Many member of Slank vote for Jokowi. The words of Bimbim, the drummer, "I usually don't vote for anyone, but on this election I'll vote". I don't know how the surveyor miss this, but you don't mess with Slankers. :)
3. Jokowi's cloth design a red-white stripe was being sold by Kaskusers (Kaskus user, an Indonesian online forum). It made his existence in Kaskus. Don't mess with Kaskuser.
4. Merchandise from Jokowi is awesome. His campaign team put a DVD of his talk in IYCS. It was awesome talk.

So, yeah, they who voted for Jokowi-Ahok was putting their trust to this couple to put radical change in Jakarta. It was not because of the influence of the parties (PDI P and Gerindra) but because of their great track record.

And they consider the young people.  Young people are great swing voters and Obama was winning by that voter. So, don't mess with swing voters. They kick ass! :P

My Note

Anyway, this was a great gamble. Having two nationalists would divide voters. This is dangerous. A certain Fundamental Islamist party might win the vote. That would be so much lost because of that party's track record.

Last election I had to vote for Foke because his rival was backed by that party.

I despised Foke because he was using BKKBN fund for his campaign. I mean, a billboard of BKKBN ad "Stay away from drug" with the picture of Foke with Monas on behind. That was totally obvious and Wimar Witoelar also noted that before his show was cancelled.

If I was in a foreign land, I might accepted how minority I was. But, I was born here, Jakarta -- Indonesia. Being threatened in my own homeland was something not desired.

Yeah, for me to enjoy at least free from minority fear in Jakarta, I had to vote for Foke. But, now the bar is getting higher. A candidate couple with great track record appeared and I choose them, Jokowi-Ahok.

What a great gamble. :))