Mahfud MD: President Asks Minister To Speak So People Know We Are Working

Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Mahfud MD (Photo: ANTARA DOK)

JAKARTA - Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal, and Security Affairs (Menko Polhukam), Mahfud MD, said President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) had never prohibited his ministers from speaking in front of the media. In fact, they were asked to speak so that the public would know that the government was already working.

"The president's instructions to us ministers are to talk a lot in the press. On several occasions in cabinet meetings, the president said ministers speak so that the people know that the ministers are working", Mahfud said during a speech on the National Press Day agenda which was broadcast on the Official Press Council YouTube on Tuesday, February 8th.

The existence of this directive makes ministers often speak in front of the media. "So using the press is not coquettish", said the former Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court (MK).

"But it's in the interest of the people to know and (the government, ed) get input, get objective criticism", added Mahfud.

In addition to mass media, the government actually often uses social media as a means of speaking to the public. However, this platform is often a place for spreading fake news or hoaxes.

In fact, social media is often filled with buzzers or buzzers who don't know who they are. Regarding the buzzer, Mahfud emphasized that the government had never looked after them.

This is conveyed to respond to issues that are often circulated in the community, the government maintains a buzzer. According to Mahfud, these buzzers are actually people who do not have media and cannot be held accountable for their uploads.

Moreover, these buzzers often appear to defend or attack certain groups with fake news. So, the government can't maintain them.

"We see why the so-called buzzer is someone who defends or is on the government side. For example, if we call person A, person B, they always defend the government", said Mahfud.

"But there is person A, person B, person C always attacking government policies and this is not called a buzzer. So the buzzer phenomenon should not be blamed on the government", he concluded.