Jokowi Says President May Campaigns, Sudirman Said: We Lost A Resource Of Exemplary

Co-Captain National Team Winning Anies-Muhaimin Sudirman Said (Diah Ayu/VOI)

JAKARTA - The National Team for Winning Anies-Muhaimin Sudirman Said considers President Joko Widodo's statement about the president and minister being allowed to campaign and taking sides in the election is a bad precedent. Because, according to Sudirman, Jokowi as head of state is a moral leader of a nation. If Jokowi shows his sided attitude towards one of the election participants, this is considered to destroy Jokowi's norms as an example. "We are losing the source of good exemplary and it is dangerous for standards in the state. If technical matters we can fix it quickly. But if it's about morals, ethics, about what attitude is exemplary, it takes a long time," said Sudirman at the Change House, South Jakarta, Wednesday, January 24. Jokowi's statement, for Sudirman, seemed to give a wider way for political ministers to aggressively campaign for their party coalition presidential and vice presidential candidates. Meanwhile, ministers have the main task of managing their ministries and institutions during their tenure. "Hopefully this morning's statement (Jokowi) did not make our governance chaotic, which prompted all public officials who at the same time think about their groups or interests, but really carry out their duties as public who are sworn in to serve the community solely," said Sudirman. If the neutrality of the country's leaders in the election contest continues, Sudirman Said said the democratic principles that have been built so far will lead to defects. "If this continues, the quality of our election will be lower, and please remember that the whole world is now seeing our election," he continued. Previously, Jokowi emphasized that everyone has political and democratic rights, including ministers. In fact, Jokowi said that a president may take sides and campaign. “ The right to democracy, the political rights of each minister are the same. The important thing is that the president may campaign. The president may take sides. Yes,” said Jokowi on Halim Perdanakusuma Airbase, East Jakarta. Jokowi said that as a public official, he and the ministers could do politics. But, what must be remembered, state facilities should not be used other than for their work. "But the most important thing is that during campaign time you can't use state facilities," he said. “ We are public officials as well as political officials. You can't do this, you can't do politics, you can't. The minister is also allowed, ” Jokowi continued.

Even so, Jokowi did not explain much about the certainty of no conflict of interest if the president and ministers sided with certain pairs in the 2024 presidential election. He only said that the law only prohibits the use of state facilities. "That's all, the one who manages it can't just use state facilities. That's all," he concluded.