Surabaya Pilkada Debate: Not Accepting Armudji's Insinuation, Machfud Arifin Says Wait Later After December 9

SURABAYA - Mutual sarcasm during the Surabaya Pilkada debate question and answer occurred between the vice mayor candidate number 1 Armudji and the candidate for mayor number 2 Machfud Arifin.

Initially, Armudji asked Machfud Arifin about poverty reduction strategies with indicators P0, P1 and P2. Armudji alluded to Machfud Arifin's statement during the Pilkada debate, including in the media about the garden being maintained, the flowers were so fresh but the people of Surabaya were still poor.

"The name is poor is natural, there are rich, there are poor. There are days and nights. Of course, what I need to ask is what strategies are you doing to change the poverty indicators? You have to be able to explain poverty, the answer must be correct, not broad. You always talk about poor Surabaya residents, who are marginalized poor, all are poor (as if) no one is true Surabaya residents, ”said Armudji pair Eri Cahyadi at the Surabaya Pilkada in a live streaming debate, Saturday, December 5.

Candidate for mayor Machfud Arifin emphasized that poverty alleviation is the responsibility of the government, namely the mayor. Machfud Arifin gave an example of the Turi and Tunjungan Markets which the Surabaya City Government could not revive.

"How many workers can be absorbed there. We see another potential, the Tunjungan market, the ease in granting permits is correlated with employment. The number of poverty in Surabaya has increased by over 151 thousand and the unemployed has increased in Surabaya. How can we open up jobs, make it easier to grant permits, "Machfud Arifin continued.

Armudji was not satisfied with Machfud Arifin's answer. According to him, Machfud Arifin did not understand the poverty indicators.

Candidate for the mayor of Surabaya, Eri Cahyadi then gave an explanation to candidate pair number 2 about the indicator P0-P1-P2.

"P0 is the percentage of the population below the poverty line, P1 is the vulnerable group, P2 is poverty inequality," said Eri.

Armudji replied to his partner again. He returned to insinuating Machfud Arifin.

"The answer earlier is how come you stepped on Turi Market, it's a hassle," said Armudji.

On the other side, Machfud Arifin responded to Armudji's sarcasm. Machfud, who is also a former East Java Police Chief, warned Armudji.

“I'm happy to hear that Mr. Armudji really understands that P0, P1 are not the mayor's domain. Let the subordinates who worked on it report it to me. Wait after December 9, Mr. Armudji, I'll ask my subordinates P0-P1. What is clear is the fact that currently there are a lot of unemployment in Surabaya, very much poverty, ”said Machfud Arifin.