GP Ansor Will Report Suswono After Alluding to Prophet Muhammad When Suggesting Rich Widows Marry Unemployed Young Men

Cawagub Jakarta Suswono/PHOTO: Diah Ayu-VOI

JAKARTA - The Regional Management (PW) of GP Ansor DKI Jakarta will report the candidate for Deputy Governor of Jakarta number 1 Suswono following his statement suggesting that rich widows marry unemployed young men.

Secretary of PW GP Ansor DKI Jakarta Sulton said that Suswono's statement that will be reported is comparing it to the story of the Prophet Muhammad and his wife, Khadijah. Sulton emphasized that the statement could hurt Muslims.

"The most fatal thing is that the Prophet Muhammad was clearly not a poor and unemployed man like the analogy conveyed by Suswono. We strongly condemn the statement and will plan to report this to the authorities," said Sulton in his statement, Monday, October 28.

Sulton emphasized that Suswono should not have made a statement that was considered to belittle the Prophet in order to gain public support in the Jakarta gubernatorial election contest.

"It is very unethical and inappropriate for Suswono to issue such a statement, especially as a joke to the public during the campaign," Sulton explained.

For information, the statement was made by Suswono at a volunteer declaration event at the Nyi Ageng Serang Building, South Jakarta, Saturday, October 26.

Initially, Suswono revealed that he and Jakarta gubernatorial candidate Ridwan Kamil would continue the social assistance program in the form of cards that had been run by the DKI Jakarta Provincial Government. Not only that, Suswono also promised an additional assistance program, namely a card for orphans.

"One, the addition is an orphan card. So orphans. Remember, pay attention, orphans will later become the governor's children. Ladies, don't take this the wrong way. Don't assume that means the widow is married to the governor," said Suswono.

However, Suswono emphasized that this assistance card is only intended for residents with lower economic or poor families. Jokingly, Suswono also suggested that rich widows who are not included as recipients of assistance actually help by marrying unemployed young men.

"Is there a widow card? I'm sure there will be poor widows. But how can rich widows ask for a card too? I suggest that rich widows please marry unemployed young men," said Suswono.

According to him, something like this was done by the first wife of the Prophet Muhammad, Khadijah binti Khuwailid.

"Remember Khadijah? You know Khadijah, right? She was a conglomerate. Who did she marry? The Prophet. At that time she was not a prophet yet. She was still 25 years old, a young man, right? Well, that's an example of something like that," he added.