Jakarta – Experts refute concerns that Joko "Jokowi" Widodo and his running mate, Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama, may have to compromise with power-hungry politicians at the Jakarta City Council after emerging triumphant in the gubernatorial runoff election.

Yunarto Wijaya, a political expert from the think thank Charta Politika, said that such concerns were unfounded because a governor still had more decision-making power than the council, which mostly consists of parties that backed Jokowi's competitor.

"Besides the executive, legislative and judicial bodies, we still have the media and civil society to monitor issues of governance," he said. "Just look at the case of the House of Representative [DPR]. The public are angry whenever House members want to build a lavish building or go overseas for a study trip," he added.

Jokowi and Basuki were nominated by the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra), which hold a combined 17 out of 94 seats at the council. The rest of the seats are occupied by national parties that joined forces to support incumbent Governor Fauzi Bowo and his running mate, Nachrowi Ramli, in the Sept. 20 runoff.

To gain further public support, Jokowi and Basuki would have to be transparent in all of their work and programs so that the public could judge the pair's governance on their own, said Yunarto.

"If the public have the information that they need, then they will be able to support and protect Jokowi and Ahok's governance in case the council interferes," he said.

Jokowi recently said that he would make the city's budget more transparent. Basuki went even further by saying that he would disclose his salary by putting the information on a website.

Sharing a similar view, University of Indonesia (UI) social psychologist Hamdi Muluk also said that the power of the public could not be underestimated as it was what saw Jokowi and Basuki through the gubernatorial election, despite being backed by only two political parties.

He said that the pair would also be supported by the city's residents if they launched viable and justifiable programs.

Basuki was also optimistic that the council would not interfere with his work because political parties were sensitive about public perception ahead of the 2014 legislative elections.

"More than half of the voters chose us [in the runoff]. If they want to still have a seat at the council, then they won't have the guts [to oppose us]," he said on the sidelines of a discussion on elections, organized by Sindo Radio, on Saturday.

If the council did hinder his work, Basuki said, he would not back down or let it jeopardize the public's interest.

Based on quick count results by pollsters, Jokowi defeated Fauzi in the runoff by a margin of about 10 percent. The Jakarta General Elections Commission (KPU Jakarta) will release the preliminary results of the runoff by Sept. 29.

Jakarta will see its new governor and deputy governor inaugurated on Oct. 7, as long as no complaints are filed after the runoff results are officially announced. (han)