Anies Responds To Shooting Threateners Arrested: Please Express Views But There Are Limits

Indonesian President Anies Baswedan's candidate while attending the "Haul Akbar KH Abdul Chalim and KH Abdul Maksum in Lampung, Sunday (14/1/2024). (Timnas Amin)

JAKARTA - Presidential candidate number 1 Anies Baswedan again responded to the arrest of the person who threatened to shoot him. According to Anies, everyone's freedom of expression must have its limits.

"This is a message for all. Please express your views, but there is a limit. It cannot threaten safety, because that will interfere with safety," said Anies in Lampung, Sunday, January 14.

Anies appreciated the attitude of the police who responded quickly after the threat of shooting at him went viral on social media by immediately arresting the perpetrators.

Anies handed over the action against the perpetrators to the authorities according to the rules. However, Anies wants the perpetrators to also receive assistance not to do their actions again.

"We hope that the child is still young, fostered, so that events like this do not continue," he said.

As previously reported, the National Police arrested a 23-year-old man with the initials AWK in Jember, East Java. He is said to be the owner of the Tiktok account, @calonistri71600 who threatened to shoot Anies Baswedan.

"The perpetrator who has tweeted on social media about the threat of shooting one of the candidate pairs was arrested this morning based on information from the public and cooperation from the Cyber Crime Directorate of the National Police and the East Java Police Cyber Unit," said the Head of the Public Relations Division of the National Police Inspector General Sandi Nugroho at a press conference in Jakarta.

The National Police are still looking for the motive for the threat. However, AWK was declared not affiliated with other pairs of candidates in the 2024 presidential election after being questioned after the arrests were made.

East Java regional police chief Inspector General Imam Sugianto said the account owner who tweeted about the threat of shooting presidential candidate number 1 Anies Baswedan was charged with the Electronic Information and Transactions Law (ITE).

"We'll see which offenses are violated later, what is clear is that ITE must have been hit, because it uses social media and maybe another article will be asked by Dirkrimsus," said Imam on Saturday, January 13.