Minister Of Home Affairs Tito Called The Request To Postpone The Regional Head Election Because Of Candidates

Minister of Home Affairs Tito Karnavian (Photo: Instagram @titokarnavian)

JAKARTA - The Minister of Home Affairs (Mendagri) Tito Karnavian said that there was an urge to postpone the 2020 Pilkada because at the time of registering regional head candidates there were many crowds found.

According to him, the presence of this crowd was considered by a number of parties to be a potential spread of COVID-19 in the community. Moreover, after registration, many parties tested positive for COVID-19.

"On September 4 to 6, there was a large crowd that could potentially become a medium of transmission, namely at the time of registration of candidate pairs and this made a bad brand or image towards the implementation of the pilkada. At the same time there was also a voice wanting the election to be postponed again," said Tito at the Implementation Coordination Meeting The 2020 Pilkada which was attended by the Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Mahfud MD and a number of political party secretaries, Tuesday, September 22.

For this incident, his party then conducted an evaluation. As a result, the crowd occurred because the health protocol for preventing COVID-19 had not yet been disseminated to election participants, the inadequate coordination between the organizers and security forces, and the desire of the candidates to show the strength of their support.

"So that there was a crowd and finally the registration of candidates used the old method before the COVID-19 happened. Crowds came, made declarations, opened the stage and others," he said.

From the results of this evaluation, Tito said that the election organizers had carried out a number of preventive actions and discussed them in a working meeting with Commission II of the DPR RI on Monday, September 21 yesterday. In addition to agreeing that the implementation of this five-year political contestation will continue to be held, this meeting also resulted in an agreement if the regulations regarding the implementation of the 2020 Pilkada will be revised.

"The KPU revised the PKPU which regulates the stages containing protocol compliance with COVID-19. Then a working group was formed with the KPU, Bawaslu, DKPP, Ministry of Home Affairs, TNI, COVID Task Force, the Attorney General's Office and the police to maintain and enforce regulations related to protocol compliance. COVID-19, "he explained.

Previously, in the meeting, the Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs (Menko Polhukam) Mahfud MD emphasized that President Joko Widodo had heard input from a number of parties, including Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah who called for postponing the 2020 Pilkada due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mahfud said Jokowi even held a special meeting to discuss requests from a number of parties regarding the postponement of the regional head election.

"The President has heard and considered opinions and suggestions. All have been heard. Those who want to postpone and those who wish to continue. From organizations such as NU Muhammadiyah, their opinions differ, they are all heard and the President holds a meeting or talks specifically to discuss this matter," Mahfud said when opening the Simultaneous Regional Election Preparation Coordination Meeting 2020 which was broadcast on YouTube, Tuesday, September 22.

In the meeting, he continued, Jokowi had heard a number of considerations from related ministries and agencies regarding the implementation of the 2020 Pilkada before he finally decided that the implementation of the contest should not be postponed.

"The president is of the opinion that the pilkada does not need to be postponed and continues to be implemented. This presidential opinion has been channeled to the Ministry of Home Affairs to be submitted to the DPR to the KPU to Bawaslu, DKPP and so on, which was also held yesterday, September 21," he said.

It is known, pressure for the government to postpone the implementation of the 2020 Pilkada also came from a number of parties. Most recently, two religious organizations in Indonesia, namely the Nahdatul Ulama Board (PBNU) and the Muhammadiyah Central Executive (PP) requested that the implementation of this election be postponed for the sake of public health and in order to prevent the transmission of COVID-19 in the community.

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