Govt Must Anticipate Possible Disruption

ANTARA FOTO/GALIH PRADIPTA

Elections Supervisory Body (Bawaslu) chairman Abhan (second left), together with General Elections Commission (KPU) chairman Arief Budiman (second right), Indonesian Broadcasting Commission (KPI) chairman Yuliandre Darwis (left) and the head of the Press Ethics and Press Law Council’s complaints division, Syariful (right), show copies of a decree of the  joint task force on the supervision and monitoring of advertisement, reporting and broadcasting for the 2019 general elections campaigns in the framework of launching the 2019 general elections vulnerability index in Jakarta on Tuesday  (25/9/2018).

JAKARTA, KOMPAS — A potential disruption of government policies and deviations of power should be anticipated, given the many state officials and local officials that will join the national campaign team of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo. There should be no use of state facilities or impromptu programs for political campaigning.

Data from the National Campaign Team (TKN) of the Joko Widodo-Ma\'ruf Amin pair reported to the General Elections Commission (KPU) show that 15 ministers are included in the campaign team. That is almost half of all the ministers in the Working Cabinet of the Jokowi-Jusuf Kalla administration. In addition, 232 regional heads and deputy regional heads are registered with the campaign team.

So far, the Jokowi-Ma\'ruf Amin pair has included 5,279 people in the campaign team. Most of them are members of the parties supporting the incumbent that are themselves running for House of Representatives (DPR) membership. Meanwhile, Prabowo Subianto and Sandiaga Uno have registered 94 members of their campaign team. A number of national figures are included in the list, including at least nine that served as ministers in the administrations of former presidents Soeharto, BJ Habibie and Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono or in the Jokowi government.

ANTARA FOTO/GALIH PRADIPTA

Presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto (second left) greets supporters while going to a friendly event with the campaign team at the Smesco building, Jl. Gatot Subroto, Jakarta, Sunday (23/9/2018). The Gerindra Party launched the #2019prabowosandi jingle and held a gettogether with party officials who are members of the Fair and Prosperous Indonesia Coalition.

Speaking after opening the XXIV Congress of the Indonesian Journalists Association in Surakarta, Central Java, on Friday, President Jokowi dismissed concerns about government work being disrupted, given that the Cabinet ministers joining his campaign are obliged to take time off for campaigning, so as not to interfere with their performance. "It is the political right of each individual to compete as legislative members (and for the campaign), but they have to take leave during the campaign. Indeed, those are the rules," said Jokowi.

Home Minister Tjahjo Kumolo said he did not know his name was on the list of the Jokowi-Ma\'ruf Amin campaign team. However, if assigned, he was ready. Asked whether his duties would be disrupted if joined the campaign, Tjahjo replied, "I haven’t been told yet [about being included on the team].”

A similar remark was made by Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform Minister Syafruddin. He never received a request to be a member of the Jokowi-Ma\'ruf campaign team. In fact, he has never seen his name on a list. "That is a hoax. I have never been contacted," he said, adding that was okay for ministers to be campaign team members as long as they take leave days.

No rules violated

In term of rules, a member of the KPU, Wahyu Setiawan, said the ministers and regional heads could become members of the campaign teams. However, there were rules to obey. Besides taking days off to campaign, state officials were not allowed to use state facilities. Supervision of regulatory compliance was the task of the Elections Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu).

ANTARA FOTO/AKBAR NUGROHO GUMAY

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo explains the formation of his campaign team for the national campaign in the 2019 general election in Jakarta, Friday, (7/9/2018). Vice President Jusuf Kalla (second left, foreground) has been appointed as the chairman of the steering committee of the team tasked with securing the victory of Jokowi and his running mate Ma’arul Amin (right), while Erick Thohir (left) has been assigned as the chairman of the National Campaign Team.

Therefore, Bawaslu chairman Abhan will prioritize supervision to prevent any potential misuse of authority or use of state facilities. For this purpose, the Bawaslu will write to the officials entering the campaign teams. "The supervisory model to be applied must be the one that is attached when (the state officials) will do the campaign. "Whether they are present (in one activity) in their capacity as ministers, regional heads or campaign team [members]," he said.

Prabowo-Sandiaga pair spokespeople coordinator Dahnil Anzar Simanjuntak claimed the entrance of ministers into campaign teams would not only disrupt their performance but also had the potential for abuse of power.

A lecturer from the Public Policy Management Department at Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta, Gabriel Lele, said ministers\' involvement could not be prevented, since not a single rule was violated.  Nevertheless, their involvement could split their focus of work. However, it has to be acknowledged, Jokowi has his own calculation of the positive and negative impacts in allowing his assistants to enter the campaign team.

(GAL/BOW/RWN/REK/NTA)

ANTARA FOTO/DIDIK SUHARTONO

People participate in the Peaceful Campaign carnival in Surabaya, East Java, Sunday (23/9/2018). The carnival, which is part of a series of events to promote nondivisive election campaigns, was joined by members of the campaign teams of the presidential and vice-presidential candidates, political parties participating in the general election and representatives of 38 regional General Elections Commission (KPU) offices from cities/regencies throughout East Java.