Denying The 2 Finger Pose In The Presidential Car Supporting Certain Paslons, The Palace Hands Over To Bawaslu

Illustration at the Merdeka Palace in Jakarta in 2020. (BPMI Setpres-Rusman)

JAKARTA - Presidential Special Staff Coordinator Ari Dwipayana invited the Election Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) to assess the question of the two-finger reference of the Indonesian Presidential Car when it passed in Salatiga City, Central Java (Central Java), Monday, January 22. "Let it be seen by Bawaslu, yes," said Ari at the State Secretariat Building, Jakarta, Monday, January 29, quoted by Antara. Ari emphasized that basically the agenda for Jokowi's working visit to various regions in Indonesia is an effort to greet and get closer to the community. Various accusations made by a number of groups from this activity were also referred to by Ari as dynamics in the political year. "We'll just check what happened," he said. As is known, the National Activist Network of the Indonesian Young Forces Movement Ganjar-Mahfud (Jarnas Gamki Gama) complained that President Jokowi and First Lady Iriana were about the two-finger pose allegedly to support certain pairs of candidates. Complaints were sent to the Indonesian Bawaslu in Jakarta, Friday 26 January. Responding to this, Ari said that reporting efforts to Bawaslu were one of the legal instruments provided in the context of democracy. "Reporting one thing that is available in the context of democracy. The President, in every visit, always wants to interact to greet the community," he said.

Ari added that of the thousands of presidential visits, Jokowi was always seen interacting with the public by greeting, waving, and so on. "We can check what happened. In essence, it was the president's attempt to greet the public," explained Ari. Ari also dismissed the pose of two fingers during the visit in Salatiga as a form of Jokowi's affiliation to certain candidate pairs. "Of the hundreds, even thousands, of visits, he never did, he always made efforts to get closer to the community, by greeting the community," he said.