President Jokowi Values Petitions From Academics Is Part Of Democracy That Must Be Appreciated

JAKARTA - President Joko Widodo assessed that the petition from various university academics about his government is part of the democratic rights that must be respected.

"Yes, that's a democratic right that we must respect, yes," said Jokowi in Bandung Regency, West Java, as in the Presidential Secretariat YouTube account, quoted from Antara, Saturday, February 3.

Previously, several academics from a number of universities, such as alumni of the University of Gadjah Mada (UGM) Yogyakarta and the academic community of the Islamic University of Indonesia (UII) Yogyakarta, and from the University of Indonesia submitted a petition in the form of criticism of the Jokowi government. They alluded to ethics and statesmanship in the petition.

Meanwhile, Presidential Special Staff Coordinator Ari Dwipayana, in a short message received in Jakarta, Friday, said in a democratic country; the freedom to express opinions, calls, petitions, and criticism must be respected.

"Mr. President (Jokowi) has also emphasized that freedom of speech is the right of democracy. Criticism is a vitamin to continue to make improvements to the quality of democracy in our country," said Ari.

Ari said that differences of opinion, perspective, and political choices are very natural in democracy. Moreover, he continued, in the political year ahead of the election, an opinion fight must occur.

"Recently, it seems that there have been efforts to deliberately orchestrate certain political narratives for electoral purposes. Such partisan political strategies are also legitimate in the political contestation space. However, it is better for political contestation, including opinion fights, to be built in a culture of substantive dialogue and healthy debate," said Ari Dwipayana.

Ari emphasized that President Jokowi remains committed to implementing democratic principles in accordance with the values of Pancasila and the corridor of the constitution.