I asked the mayor to explain to those present at the mediation meeting the procedures ,,,"
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Jakarta Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, alias Ahok, threatened to fire the West Jakarta mayor if he refused not speak up about an alleged graft case.

"I only asked the mayor to explain an inclusion of (certain) a funding (proposal in the Jakarta draft budget). Who discussed the (proposed) funding? He initially refused to stand, so I said if you refuse to stand, it means you are involved; I fire you," Ahok said in the City Hall after leaving a mediation meeting here Thursday.

"I asked the mayor to explain to those present at the mediation meeting the procedures based on which a problematic project was included in the Jakarta Regional Budget (APBD) 2015," he stated.

He asked the West Jakarta mayor to explain whether any outsider, who was not a member of the budget drafting committee, proposed additional funding.

The mayor stood up following the threat, but the meeting had turned chaotic and had to be terminated, Ahok stated.

"When the mayor stood up, the Council (Jakartas lawmakers) seemed panicky and furious. Finally, the meeting was halted and the Home Affairs Ministrys security suggested me to leave via one of the back doors," Ahok explained.

The Home Affairs Ministry had organized the mediation meeting between Governor Ahok and the Jakarta Regional Legislative Council (DPRD) in the ministry building. The meeting, however, turned chaotic and noisy.

"Dont lie Mr Governor!" one of the participants of the meeting could be heard shouting by people outside the meeting room.

According to Slamet Nurdin of the Justice Prosperous Party, who was present at the meeting, Basuki, one of the lawmakers, was angry because when the meeting was about to end, Governor Ahok insisted on discussing issues related to the purchase of UPS and the removal of funding proposal from the APBD 2013 and 2014.

"In fact, the meeting was about to end and the Governor and Speaker were about to deliver their closing statements when he (Ahok) started talking about UPS," Slamet Nurdin remarked.

Jakarta DPRD Speaker Prasetyo Edi Marsudi and his deputy M Taufik refused to comment about the chaos in the meeting room.

"Deadlock!" another deputy speaker, Abraham Lunggana, told the media after coming out of the meeting.

The Home Affairs Ministry had organized the mediation meeting to find a solution to a conflict between Governor Ahok and the DPRD over the 2015 draft budget.

"I led the meeting and later ended it because the two parties (Ahok and the DPRD) stuck to their own explanations," Secretary-General of the Home Affairs Ministry Yuswandi Tumenggung told newsmen.

He, however, denied that the closed-door meeting was deadlocked. "It is not deadlocked as no decision has been arrived at yet," he explained.

The tension between the Governor of Jakarta and the DPRD emerged after Ahok submitted a draft budget to the ministry without the signatures of the DPRD members.

Ahok insisted that he had been right to submit the e-budget without the signatures of the DPRD members. He added that he had deliberately decided against seeking the DPRDs approval so that a budget allocation, which he called "invisible," for procuring uninterruptible power units (UPS) worth Rp12.1 trillion that he had already scrapped would not reappear.

He has reported this "invisible" budget allocation to the Corruption Eradication Commission.
(Uu.F001/INE/KR-BSR/S012)

Editor: Priyambodo RH
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