JAKARTA. Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama says many parties have tried to stop him from seeking reelection in the 2017 gubernatorial election.

The approval of a revision of the Regional Elections Law has been the hardest hit to Ahok’s attempt to run in the election so far. It even made him think twice about taking part.

“I will work hard until the end of my tenure in October 2017. But if you dispute my governorship, just take it,” Ahok said on Wednesday.

The law, approved by the House of Representatives last week, makes it more difficult for independent candidates like Ahok because of a complicated factual verification process surrounding voter support.

Under the law, supporters of independent candidates who have handed over photocopies of their identity cards in order to indicate their endorsement — as required for independent hopefuls — have to be factually verified.

The law now stipulates that if a supporter is not at home during the verification process, the candidate’s campaign team has three days to accompany the supporter to the nearest polling station for verification.

Ahok will not challenge the law through a judicial review motion at the Supreme Court because it is the role of the General Elections Commission ( KPU ), as the election organizing institution, to do so.

Volunteers from the Teman Ahok ( Friends of Ahok ) group have collected 945,894 copies of IDs so far, from a target of 1 million.

Ahok said the complicated factual verification process could force him out of the gubernatorial race because his followers would only have three days to verify their support with the election committee ( PSS ), though committee members were not available every day.

“This thing is troublesome for my supporters,” Ahok said, adding that he had not prepared a strategy regarding the factual verification process.

“What strategy that I should prepare? You can’t fight the law. Do you think it is a pencak silat [martial arts] movie where I should prepare a lot of strategies?” Ahok said.

He said the approval of the law was not only the effort to stop him seeking reelection. Cases surrounding land acquisition in West Jakarta and reclamation in Jakarta Bay, in which he has been questioned as a witness, are seen as tarnishing his popularity.

Editor: Barratut Taqiyyah Rafie