Mahfud MD Defends Ganjar And Anies, Says No State Secret Data Is Requested

Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Mahfud Md. answered reporters' questions on the sidelines of their activities at the Coordinating Ministry for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Office, Jakarta, Tuesday (9/1/2024). (ANTARA/Azfar Muhammad)

JAKARTA - Candidates for vice president serial number 3 Mahfud MD believe that there is no state secret requested by Ganjar Pranowo and Anies Baswedan to Prabowo Subianto during the third debate of the 2024 presidential election in Jakarta, Sunday, January 7 evening. Mahfud conveyed the data requested by the two presidential candidates regarding the performance of the Ministry of Defense, which is currently led by Prabowo Subianto as Minister of Defense and presidential candidate number 2 and the openness of budget use. "There are no state secrets that are leaked there, right, asking for budget disclosure," Mahfud said when met by the media crew during his activities in Jakarta, quoted from Antara, Tuesday, January 9. Mahfud also gave an example of the country's secrets, including intelligence findings, intelligence plans, attack plans, and the secrets of vital places. "When asking how yesterday's budget was, he said (to buy a used defense equipment)? It's not a secret. Just explain if it's not used or used, but this (explanation) is the budget, right," said Mahfud. According to him, openness is important so that the public knows and participates in supervising government policies. "In my opinion, there are no state secrets that were asked to be leaked yesterday. Let me know which state secrets are asking to be leaked, right? What is the secret of the state requested by one of the presidential candidates? No. Those are all things that belong to the public and have become news. No," Mahfud emphasized. The third debate for the 2024 presidential election was attended by three presidential candidates, namely Anies Baswedan (candidate number 1), Prabowo Subianto (candidate number 2), and Ganjar Pranowo (candidate number 3) raising defense, security, geopolitical issues, international relations, and globalization issues. Ganjar Pranowo and Anies Baswedan took advantage of the debate stage to question and at the same time criticize Prabowo's policy as Minister of Defense in the second term of President Joko Widodo's administration. Anies, for example, questioned the use of the Ministry of Defense's budget which he said reached Rp700 trillion. Then Ganjar asked about the fulfillment of the minimum basic force (Minium Essential Force / MEF) of the TNI which is targeted to be achieved by the end of 2024. Ganjar and Anies also criticized Prabowo's plan to buy the former Qatar Air Force 2000-5 Mirage fighter aircraft. In the debate session, Prabowo believed that not all data and information could be disclosed in public because apart from the limited time to discuss complicated issues, there is also the possibility that the information is part of state secrets. Prabowo also invited the two of them to meet and sit down together to discuss the defense data that was being discussed in the presidential election debate. The General Election Commission (KPU) of the Republic of Indonesia on November 13, 2023, determined that three pairs of presidential and vice presidential candidates will participate in the 2024 Presidential and Vice Presidential Elections (Pilpres). The results of the draw and determination of the number of participants for the 2024 presidential election on Tuesday, November 14, 2023, the pair Anies Baswedan-Muhaimin Iskandar number 1, Prabowo Subianto-Gibran Rakabuming Raka number 2, and Ganjar Pranowo-Mahfud Md serial number 3.

The KPU has also set a campaign period from November 28, 2023 to February 10, 2024, then the voting schedule will be on February 14, 2024.