Bawaslu Wanti-wanti Tradition Of Merti Dusun In Kulon Progo Not Infiltrated By Political Campaigns

Merti Dusun Tradition In Kulon Progo (ANTARA)

The KULON PROGO - Election Supervisory Body (Bawaslu) of Kulon Progo Regency, Yogyakarta Special Region, issued an appeal letter for the implementation of the merti hamlet tradition to the Kulon Progo Regent and political parties participating in the 2024 General Election so as not to take advantage of these activities as a political socialization event.

"The letter of appeal for the implementation means that we have sent the hamlets to all political parties and Kulon Progo Regents through the cultural service on April 27, 2023," said Chairman of Bawaslu Kulon Progo Ria Harlinawati, quoted by ANTARA, Friday, June 16.

Ria Harlinawati said that her party found allegations of political parties using hamlet activities for party socialization.

"Based on the results of our supervision since 2 months ago, his party found that political parties using hamlets became socialization activities in the political party," he said.

Ria hopes that the appeal letter that we send to the Regent to ensure this hamlet is really for cultural activities because it uses the budget at the Kulon Progo Culture Service.

"The regent can instruct him to the ground to ensure that there is no socialization of political parties in the hamlet. Furthermore, Panwaslu friends at the village level carry out supervision of the follow-up to the appeal letter we issued," said Ria Harlinawati.

Based on the results of the supervision, his party conducted a study whether it was a violation or not. In terms of regulations at the PKPU regarding campaigns that have not been changed so far, that political parties that have been determined can carry out political education. However, only within political parties.

The more important thing, according to him, is how the Kulon Progo Regency KPU defines the internal political education of political parties.

The results of the temporary Bawaslu study, meaning that the hamlet is not an internal political party because it involves many different communities, organizations, and elements of society. The implementation of this tradition is the budget of the local government.

"From the results of supervision and study, as well as the results of coordination with the district government, in this case the cultural service is to ensure the budget. From the results of coordination, we issued an appeal letter," he said.

Responding to this, the Traditional Indigenous Division, Cultural and Art Institutions of the Kulon Progo Culture Office Wruhantoro admitted that he had received an appeal letter from the local Bawaslu regarding the implementation of the merti hamlet tradition. However, the appeal is also addressed to all political parties.

"Based on the mobile results in the implementation of the hamlet in June, as far as we know, it is a pure traditional nuance of tradition. There are no indications yet to lead to it (political party socialization activities)," he said.