President May Campaign In Accordance With Election Law, TKN Examples Megawati And SBY Ages

President Jokowi/PHOTO via Instagram @jokowi

JAKARTA - Deputy Chairperson of the Prabowo-Gibran National Campaign Team (TKN) Habiburokhman, denied that President Joko Widodo's support for candidate pair number 2, Prabowo Subianto and Gibran Rakabuming Raka was a violation of ethics as head of state and head of government.

Habiburokhman said that legally President Jokowi as an Indonesian citizen (WNI) has the right of individuals to support any candidate pair including Prabowo-Gibran in the 2024 presidential election.

"The narrative is heretical because in principle and ethics, there is nothing wrong either. There is not a single legal provision that is violated if Pak Jokowi supports one of the candidates in the presidential election," said Habiburokhman at a press conference at the Media Center TKN Prabowo-Gibran, Jakarta, Wednesday, January 24.

Habiburokhman explained that every Indonesian citizen is guaranteed to have constitutional political rights, including for the President of the Republic of Indonesia. This is as stated in Article 23 paragraph (1) of Law Number 39 of 1999 which regulates that everyone has the right to vote and has their political beliefs.

The deputy chairman of the Gerindra Party regretted the misguided thought that was narrated by a number of people who thought it was as if President Jokowi would use his power to win candidate pair number 2.

Moreover, said Habiburokhman, the constitution recognizes the concept of incumbent in which a person can be elected President of the Republic of Indonesia in two terms or even consecutively.

"The logic collapsed from the start because Article 7 of the constitution even regulates that a President can run a second time and remain as President of incumbents," he said.

Habiburokhman reiterated that President Jokowi has the right to express support for one of the 2024 presidential election contestants as long as he does not abuse his authority. The President, he said, may also campaign as long as he does not make policies that benefit one of the participants and harm other participants.

"As long as the point is not to abuse power, the President may express his support," he said.

He then gave an example of the 5th President of the Republic of Indonesia Megawati Soekarnoputri and the 6th President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) who campaigned for themselves when they came forward as presidential candidates. In fact, the President of the 7th Republic of Indonesia, Joko Widodo, did the same thing.

"Remember Mr. SBY came forward for the second time, in 2009. He is the president, he campaigns to choose for himself. But he can't use his authority to benefit himself or others. Likewise, Mrs. Mega, when she runs as president, she can be incumbent, right, 2004," said Habiburokhman.

"Mr. Jokowi in 2019. There was no problem. This practice occurred in the United States, which we often used as an example reference in the context of upholding democracy and human rights," he continued.

Habiburokhman also gave an example in the United States. Where an incumbent President supports and even campaigns for one of the next-term presidential candidates.

"In 2008 President George W Bush supported John McCain against Barack Obama, in 2016 it was Obama's turn to support Hillary Clinton who fought against Donald Trump," said Habiburokhman.

Therefore, he asked the public not to worry too much. Because until now, the state still has strict rules to prevent the president from using power to benefit himself or supported candidates.

The regulation referred to by Habiburokhman is contained in Article 306 of Law Number 7 of 2017 concerning Elections which generally regulates that the government should not make policies that benefit or harm one candidate pair.

In addition, continued Habiburokhman, the state also has the Election Supervisory Body (Bawaslu) which will observe steps around elections, where their performance is monitored by the Election Organizing Welfare Council (DKPP).

"The point is we don't need to worry if the President uses his right to support one of the candidate pairs because there are clear layered rules and there are clear law enforcement agencies to ensure that there is no abuse of power," he concluded.