Jokowi: Let Us Unite

KOMPAS/ANITA YOSSIHARA

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo (center left, at podium) and his running mate Ma’ruf Amin (center right) deliver their victory speech on Tuesday (5/21/2019) at a kampung deret urban renewal project in Tanah Tinggi, Johar Baru, Jakarta. Jokowi thanked the Indonesian people for their mandate and the election organizers for working hard to ensure the success of the 2019 simultaneous legislative and presidential elections.

President Joko Widodo said he appreciated Prabowo Subianto and Sandiaga Uno’s plan to file an objection to the election results with the Constitutional Court. Meanwhile, the Democratic Party and the National Mandate Party said they accepted the General Elections Commission’s vote count.

JAKARTA, KOMPAS  —Presidential candidate Joko “Jokowi” Widodo and running mate Ma’ruf Amin said it was time for Indonesians to unite for national development. Both Jokowi and Ma’ruf said they would continue their friendship with rivals Prabowo Subianto and Sandiaga Uno, along with their supporters.

“After our inauguration in October, we will be the president and vice president of all Indonesians. We are the leaders and protectors of 100 percent of Indonesians,” Jokowi said in his victory speech in Kampung Deret, Tanah Tinggi, Central Jakarta, on Tuesday (21/5/2019).

Jokowi delivered his speech after the KPU finalized its vote count in the early hours of Tuesday. According to the results, the Jokowi-Ma’ruf pair won 85.61 million votes (55.5 percent). Meanwhile, Prabowo and Sandi won 68.65 million votes (44.5 percent). The vote gap was 16.96 million votes.

Meanwhile, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) won the most votes in the legislative elections, with 27.05 million (19.33 percent), followed by the Gerindra Party (17.59 million, 12.57 percent) and the Golkar Party (17.23 million, 12.31 percent).

Chairman Haedar Nashir of Indonesia’s second largest Muslim organization, Muhamaddiyah, said that he appreciated Jokowi and Ma’ruf’s plan to meet with Prabowo, Sandiaga and their supporters. He said that healing public divisions worsened by the election was a major challenge right now.

“If Pak Jokowi embraces and reunites with Pak Prabowo in a show of statesmanship, this is called ihsan in Islam, namely wisdom beyond [one’s duty],” Haedar said.

He cited the tradition in advanced democracies where those who lost elections congratulated those who won.

ANTARA FOTO/SIGID KURNIAWAN

Prabowo Subianto (left) and Sandiaga Uno hold up two fingers in the sign of their presidential ticket, No. 2, during a press conference on Tuesday (5/21/2019) at Prabowo’s residence in Kertanegara, South Jakarta. The rival pair has decided to challenge the election results at the Constitutional Court.

Separately, former vice president Try Soetrisno said, as an older person, he prayed that Indonesians, as part of a religious nation, would soon develop the awareness to reconcile with one another. “If we stay as one, we’ll be strong. If we are divided, we’ll be weak and this will be dangerous,” he said.

On Tuesday, Try visited the presidential palace to congratulate Jokowi. He arrived soon after PDI-P chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri, who also visited the palace to congratulate Jokowi.

After Megawati and Try, Jokowi was also congratulated by the political party leaders from his coalition.

Constitutional

The Democratic Party and the National Mandate Party (PAN) also recognized the validity of the KPU’s vote count. Both parties supported Prabowo and Sandiaga in the presidential election.

“We recognize the victory of Pak Jokowi,” PAN chair Zulkifli Hasan said.

In his capacity as former president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono also congratulated Jokowi and Ma’ruf.

Democratic Party ethics council chairman Amir Syamsuddin said that all witnesses from the party signed the KPU’s official vote count report. “It means that we accepted all results of the election,” he said.

Meanwhile, Prabowo said that he rejected the election results because of indications of fraud. Prabowo and Sandiaga said they would take the constitutional route of filing an objection to the results with the Constitutional Court (MK).

On Tuesday, Prabowo called for his supporters to uphold peace, good morals and the Constitution when expressing their opinions.

“We will go ahead with our legal and constitutional efforts to prove to the people that we really mean it about upholding the law and democracy,” Prabowo said.

Jokowi said he highly appreciated Prabowo’s move of pursuing his dispute through the MK.

Gratitude

In his four-minute speech in Kampung Deret, Jokowi expressed his gratitude to all Indonesians who had given him their trust for him and Ma’ruf Amin to lead the nation. He said he appreciated the people’s democratic maturity, as was evident from the safe, peaceful, honest and just election.

Jokowi and Ma’ruf said they also appreciated all the election organizers for their hard work, as well as the public figures, the authorities, witnesses and everyone else.

KOMPAS/RONY ARIYANTO NUGROHO

A protestor sits in front of the police line securing the Elections Supervisory Body (Bawaslu) headquarters on Tuesday (5/21/2019) in Jakarta. The mass rally, which was held in support of rival candidate pair Prabowo Subianto-Sandiaga Uno, rejected the General Elections Commission’s (KPU) official results that declared Joko Widodo-Ma’ruf Amin as the winner of the 2019 presidential election.

In giving his speech at Kampung Deret, beside the railway near Pasar Senen Station, Jokowi was not accompanied by political party representatives and his campaign team members.

Jokowi and Ma’ruf said they chose the densely populated residential area of Kampung Deret as the location of their victory speech as the kampung had been renovated by Jokowi when he was Jakarta governor. Jokowi said he wanted to see the latest condition in Kampung Deret and pledged to continue the effort to reorganize the area.

Evidence

MK spokesman Fajar Laksono said that an application filed with the court to dispute the election results must include a letter that lists the pieces of evidence and the evidence itself.

“The judge will see the thoroughness of the evidence in the filed application. If the other requirements for registering a case are fulfilled, a preliminary hearing will be held and the judge will provide his or her input and suggestions, including on the thoroughness of the evidence,” he said.

Since the KPU finalized its vote count on Tuesday, presidential election participants have until May 24 to file any dispute with the MK. “At the latest, the MK will have to make rulings by June 28 on presidential election disputes and by Aug. 9 on legislative election disputes,” he said.

KOMPAS/HERU SRI KUMORO

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo (center left) greets residents of Kampung Deret on Tuesday (5/21/2019) as his running mate Ma’ruf Amin (center right) looks on in Tanah Tinggi, Johar Baru, Jakarta. The incumbent delivered his victory speech at a kampung deret, an urban renewal project he initiated in 2014 when he was the Jakarta governor.

Election Supervisory Body (Bawaslu) member Rahmat Bagja said that election participants could also file administrative disputes with the Bawaslu if they alleged there were administrative violations.  (AGE/REK/LAS/INA/IAN/SAN/ABK/NTA)