Dharma Pongrekun Meets Pramono At City Hall, Asks Jakarta Residents To Have The Right To Reject TB Vaccines

Jakarta Governor Pramono Anung with Dharma Pongrekun at Jakarta City Hall, Friday 23 May (Diah Ayu/VOI)

JAKARTA - Dharma Pongrekun visited the DKI Jakarta City Hall to meet with the Governor of DKI Jakarta Pramono Anung. Dharma and Pramono chatted in the DKI Governor's office for about 30 minutes.

After the meeting, the former candidate for Governor of DKI in the 2024 Pilkada admitted that he discussed the matter of Jakarta's leadership in the hands of Pramono and Rano Karno.

"The story is about how cool it is for him to take care of Jakarta, because the first experience was governor. That's all. There are many unexpected dynamics and so on, and many framings that are not all true," said Dharma at DKI Jakarta City Hall, Friday, May 23.

One of the topics Dharma discussed with Pramono was about vaccines. Dharma asked Pramono to issue a policy that freed Jakarta residents from being vaccinated.

"I only leave it to the people of Jakarta so that they are given the right again, fought for to get the right to refuse. The right to refuse from any coercion, that's because this is a matter of human rights, because of our body our choice," said Dharma.

When asked whether the vaccine in question was related to the discourse of clinical trials of tuberculosis (TBC) vaccine sponsored by Bill Gates in Indonesia, Dharma did not deny it.

"I've already talked, right. I think you understand, yes. The most important thing is for the safety of our lives," said the former Deputy Head of the National Cyber and Crypto Agency (BSSN).

"The important thing is to live day by day, stay healthy, and don't forget to rely on God from anything, never rely on vaccines," he added.

News that Indonesia is one of the countries that will be tested for the TB vaccine emerged after President Prabowo Subianto received a visit from Microsoft founder and The Gates Foundation, Bill Gates, at the Merdeka Palace in Jakarta on May 7, 2025.

During the meeting, Prabowo and Gates discussed efforts to eradicate a number of infectious diseases, including polio, malaria, and tuberculosis.

And, Indonesia is a test site for a new tuberculosis vaccine or tuberculosis vaccine. This vaccine candidate is named M72. Through The Gates Foundation, Bill Gates funded the development of this TB vaccine. Apart from Indonesia, other countries that are also participating in clinical trials of this TB vaccine are South Africa, Kenya, Malawi, and Zambia.

However, the emergence of Bill Gates' name in the vaccine trial caused a polemic. People are worried that side effects may only be felt in the future, until Indonesia's potential becomes a guinea pig.