Indonesian Politics: Inauguration Anies Baswedan as Jakarta Governor
On Monday (16/10), Jakarta, the capital city of Indonesia, will see the inauguration of the new governor, Anies Baswedan (together with his deputy Sandiaga Uno), for the 2017-2022 period. President Joko Widodo will lead the ceremony at the Presidential Palace in Jakarta. The ceremony, which starts around 16:00 pm local Jakarta time, will be guarded by 7,000 security personnel.
In 19 April 2017 the Baswedan-Uno pair won the second round of the 2017 Jakarta gubernatorial election, in which they defeated former governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama (Ahok) and his running mate Basuki Tjahaja Purnama after securing 57.96 percent of the votes. It was a controversial (and some would say dirty) race - which led to a two-years prison sentence for Ahok on blasphemy charges - fueled by ethnic and religious tensions.
The Jakarta governor is elected directly by the local Jakarta electorate for a five-year term. Over the past five years, however, we saw quite some changes ahead of schedule. Joko Widodo (who was elected as Jakarta governor in 2012) decided to run for president in 2014 (a successful attempt) and therefore stepped down from his Jakarta post. He was replaced by his deputy Ahok, a Christian of ethnic Chinese descent (a sensitive issue in Muslim-majority Jakarta). Ahok was then sentenced to prison in early 2017 in a blasphemy scandal, implying he was replaced by his deputy governor Djarot Saiful Hidayat (who became governor for the remaining five months).
List of Recent Jakarta Governors:
| Governor | Period |
| Sutiyoso | October 1997 - October 2007 |
| Fauzi Wibowo | October 2007 - October 2012 |
| Joko Widodo | October 2012 - October 2014 |
| Basuki Tjahaja Purnama | November 2014 - May 2017 |
| Djarot Saiful Hidayat | May 2017 - October 2017 |
| Anies Baswedan | October 2017 - present |