Mr. Basuki, a 48-year-old Protestant whose grandfather was a tin miner from Guangzhou, China, was sworn in Wednesday [of last week] at the State Palace by President Joko Widodo.<\/p>\n
None of Jakarta\u2019s previous governors have been Christian or of Chinese ancestry, except for one who served briefly as an appointee half a century ago (like Mr. Basuki, he was both). And despite Indonesia\u2019s history of discrimination \u201d\u201d and, at times, savage violence \u201d\u201d against ethnic Chinese, Mr. Basuki says he considers neither his faith nor his ethnicity to be a political handicap.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen people told me \u201d\u02dcthe Chinese are a minority,\u2019 my father would say to tell them that we are more patriotic,\u201d\u009d Mr. Basuki said in a recent interview. \u201cIf one day Indonesia is occupied by a foreign country, my father said he would be in front of the front line to fight for our independence again.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n