Muhaimin: Officials And Election Organizers Must Be Really Neutral

Candidate for Vice President Muhaimin Iskandar visited a fishing village in Pluit Village, Penjaringan District, North Jakarta, Tuesday (2/1/2024). ANTARA/ Donny Aditra

JAKARTA - Vice Presidential Candidate Muhaimin Iskandar reminded the National Police, TNI, government, and election organizers, namely the General Elections Commission (KPU) and the Election Supervisory Body (Bawaslu) to maintain neutrality in order to create an honest and fair democratic party.

"To the police, local government, Bawaslu, KPU, TNI, we really expect neutrality, because this election is for the national interest," said Muhaimin as quoted by ANTARA, Tuesday, January 2.

This statement was made by Muhaimin in response to the installation of the Prabowo-Gibran billboard in the words "Welcome to Batam" which became the landmark of Batam City.

He explained that the campaign was not only for the benefit of political parties or presidential candidates, but for the national interest so it was very important to maintain a democratic process with integrity and not violate the rules.

He considered that if the campaign support agenda or activities were carried out in public spaces, election organizers or related parties would have to act fairly, so that no party felt unilaterally disadvantaged.

The general chairman of the National Awakening Party (PKB) continues to urge all parties to jointly keep the election process conducive.

"If there is a violation, Bawaslu should take firm action against it," he said.

The installation of the Prabowo-Gibran billboard in the words "Welcome to Batam" which became the landmark of Batam City was installed a few days before the turn of the year and went viral on social media.

Responding to this, Bawaslu had coordinated with the Prabowo-Gibran Regional Campaign Team (TKD) for the Riau Islands region. However, Bawaslu actually received information that TKD claimed to have obtained permission by the local government to install billboards.

Responding to this information, Bawaslu immediately removed the billboard with the Prabowo-Gibran picture, because it was deemed to have violated PKPU rules Number 20 of 2023 which explained that government facilities could only be used for campaign sites without being fitted with campaign attributes.