Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama is facing a serious challenge to his reelection bid as rivals have teamed up to form the Orang Kita (Our People) movement for a new governor.

Ahmad Dhani, a musician-cum-politician, declared the establishment of the movement on Friday. He underlined that the movement was not specifically to foil Ahok’s plan run in the 2017 Jakarta gubernatorial election as an independent candidate.

"Orang Kita is a group of volunteers to support any governor candidate willing to make Jakarta a more civilized city. It is not to support me [as a candidate], but to support any candidate who can make Jakarta better," he said in Menteng, Central Jakarta, as quoted by kompas.com.

Politicians from several parties attended the declaration, including Gerindra Party politician Habiburokhman, Jakarta governor hopeful Abraham "Lulung" Lunggana and Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) politician Adhyaksa Dault.

Several would-be candidates made speeches to introduce themselves. Most of them mentioned legal cases involving Ahok, such as the Jakarta Bay reclamation case, the purchase of land adjacent to Sumber Waras Hospital, the uninterruptible power supply procurement case and evictions.

Activist Ratna Sarumpaet, who recently criticized Ahok’s policies and political moves, remarked on the group's establishment. She called on Ahok to stop being “childish” in responding to criticism of the Pasar Ikan evictions.

However, Gerindra’s Jakarta chairman, Mohamad Taufik, said his party had been considering establishing a coalition ahead of the 2017 election. He underlined that the coalition was not being established specifically to defeat Ahok.

“The coalition with other parties is needed not to defeat Ahok but to develop Jakarta. Even the incumbent governor is yet to pass requirements to be a Jakarta governor candidate," he claimed. (ags)