Anies Will Watch Formula E Jakarta If Invited

JAKARTA - The candidate for president of the Change Coalition, Anies Baswedan, is said to be interested in watching the 2023 Formula E events on June 3 and 4. This was revealed by his spokesman, Sudirman Said.

Sudirman Said said that the former Governor of DKI Jakarta for the 2017-2022 period would be present as spectators of the electric car race if invited by the organizers, in this case the BUMD PT Jakarta Propertindo (Jakpro).

"If invited, God willing (Anies) will be present (watching Formula E)," said Sudirman Said in a short message, Friday, May 26.

So far, Sudirman Said does not know whether Anies will be invited as a guest at the Formula E event. However, if Anies is not invited, he will spend his personal money to buy spectator tickets.

"Or if later it fits in Jakarta and there is time, maybe we will also buy tickets," he said.

For information, Formula E in Jakarta was initially initiated by Anies while still leading DKI. Since 2019, Anies has signed an agreement to host Formula E with the FIA.

Anies also disbursed Rp560 billion from the DKI Regional Budget for the 2019 and 2020 fiscal years. However, the race title was postponed to 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

When Formula E is again pursued to be held in 2022, the DKI Jakarta DPRD prohibits Anies from increasing the allocation of the APBD for implementation because it is considered a burden on the regional budget. Therefore, the remaining financing needs are borne by PT Jakpro as the organizer BUMD.

When Anies stepped down, Formula E continued for two years. This is because Jakpro has signed the Jakarta agreement to host the race from 2022 to 2024.

However, now the DKI Provincial Government has given up its responsibility to organize and hand over all power to Jakpro because the Formula E business scheme has changed to business (B2B).

Acting Governor of DKI Jakarta Heru Budi Hartono has invited Formula E to be held this year. Moreover, according to Heru, Formula E in 2023 is a general activity that is not organized by the government and does not use the APBD.

"The name is public activity, go ahead," said Heru at the DKI Jakarta City Hall, Tuesday, March 14.

The general activity that Heru meant in this year's Formula E race, the implementation was no longer financed by the government, but instead used a business to business (B2B) scheme between PT Jakpro as the organizer BUMD and Formula E Operation.

In a sense, there will be no additional costs from the APBD after its planning from 2019 to 2022.