Police Visit and Take a Photo of PDIP Solo Representative Office, FX Rudy: That's an Act of Intimidation

Solo PDIP Representative Office. (Spc)

SOLO – The arrival of police officers at the Solo Representative (DPC) Office of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP) was considered an act of intimidation by state officials. This opinion was expressed by the former Deputy Mayor of Solo who is also the Chair of the Solo PDIP DPC, FX Hadi Rudyatmo.

The PDIP Solo DPC office, which is in the Purwosari area, Laweyan, was visited by police officers on Wednesday afternoon, November 8 2023. The office was only inaugurated on October 16.

"In my opinion, this is unnatural because whatever the state apparatus, including the TNI, Polri, ASN, does, if there are no activities to stop at the DPC, that is unnatural. This afternoon," said Rudy, FX Hadi Rudyatmo's nickname, in Solo, Wednesday 8 November.

"If the police had just visited the DPC, people would have thought that this was a form of intervention, intimidation so that people would be afraid to go to the DPC, that's not true. Whether he wanted to do it himself or was asked to do it, I don't know," added Rudy.

Rudy appealed to state officials to be neutral in the run-up to the 2024 elections. According to him, this was the first incident when the PDIP Solo DPC Office was visited by the police when there was no activity.

Surakarta Police Chief, Kombes Iwan Saktiadi, denied that the arrival of his subordinates at the Solo PDIP DPC Office was a form of intimidation. He said what his men were doing was a routine patrol.

“This is just a routine patrol. Not only PDIP DPC, we visited all offices, not only PDIP offices, KPU offices, Bawaslu, we also visited other parties, there was nothing different about that," said Iwan.

However, in Rudy's eyes, the police officers' actions were not just routine patrols.

"If only the patrol would just pass by. This stopped, taking photos means it's been a long time. The PDIP office is still empty, no activity continues to be visited, people think that there has begun to be intimidation and intervention against political parties carried out by law enforcement officials," said Rudy.