Vice President Ma'ruf Affirms Neutrality In The 2024 Presidential Election

Vice President Ma'ruf Amin (central) delivered a press statement at the Secretariat Office of the Vice President of the Republic of Indonesia, Jakarta, on Thursday (25/1/2024). (ANTARA/Yashinta Difa)

JAKARTA - Vice President Ma'ruf Amin emphasized that he would remain neutral in responding to the dynamics of the 2024 General Election.

"I've positioned myself from the start to be neutral. I'm impartial (one of the pairs of candidates)," said Vice President Ma'ruf as quoted by ANTARA, Thursday, January 25.

According to Ma'ruf, the votes he will give to the presidential candidate pair and vice presidential candidate of his choice are very secret and personal.

"The case will be (who is) my choice, I will put it down later on February 14 (on voting day). And no one should know," he said.

Meanwhile, responding to President Joko Widodo's (Jokowi) statement that a president may take sides and may participate in the campaign, Vice President Ma'ruf said that according to the rules, it was allowed.

"I think the (statement) of the President is clear. The rules are okay. There are parties who don't agree, there are those who agree, go ahead with the public affairs (who judge)," he said.

Ma'ruf also said that he had no problem with Jokowi's statement, which many considered to have violated political ethics.

"But this doesn't mean the difference with the President. If the President has said that, that's it, yes (but) I really (choose) to remain neutral," he said.

Earlier on Wednesday (24/1), President Jokowi said that both the president and the minister had democratic and political rights that allowed them to participate in the election campaign as long as they did not use state facilities. Jokowi said this was to respond to the existence of a number of ministers of the Advanced Indonesia Cabinet who entered as a successful team to support the presidential and vice presidential candidate pair participating in the 2024 presidential election. "The right of democracy, political rights, everyone. According to him, the most important thing is that the president is allowed to serve, he may obey. Yes," said Jokowi at Halim Perdanakusuma Air Base, Jakarta, Wednesday. Jokowi explained that the position of president and minister are public officials as well as political officials. Therefore, according to him, the campaign is the right of democracy and the political rights of every citizen, including the president and ministers.