Indonesian polls watchdog questions president’s son over alleged campaign violation

Indonesia’s election watchdog on Wednesday questioned the president’s son, a vice presidential candidate in next month’s polls, about an alleged campaign violation last month in Jakarta.

Gibran Rakabuming Raka, running mate of presidential frontrunner Prabowo Subianto, answered a summons Wednesday, becoming the first among six candidates for the top two offices to be scrutinized by the Central Jakarta Election Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) for an alleged violation.

Bawaslu officials questioned Gibran about his distribution of free milk to the public last month during a weekly car-free day in the Indonesian capital, a regular Sunday event that aims to reduce air pollution and promote a healthy lifestyle.

The agency said it was investigating whether Gibran violated a regulation that banned political parties from using car-free days for campaign purposes. Gibran, the eldest son of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, on Tuesday had ignored a summons from Bawaslu.

Gibran told reporters after he was questioned that his appearance at the event in Jakarta in early December was not a campaign promotion.

“We explained to them that there was no political party activity at all in the car-free day event in Jakarta on Dec. 3,” Gibran said. 

Gibran, the mayor of Solo in Central Java, had issued the same denial earlier, explaining that he did not carry any promotional materials or ask people to vote for him in the presidential elections set to take place Feb. 14.

Bawaslu acted ‘fairly’

Prabowo’s campaign team wasn’t happy with Bawaslu’s move to summon Gibran. 

They plan to report the Central Jakarta branch of the polls supervisory agency to the Elections Organizer Ethics Council, a body that handles ethical violations by election organizers or supervisors, said Habiburokhman, deputy chair of Prabowo’s campaign.

“We will lodge a complaint because they have been unprofessional,” Habiburokhman, who goes by a single name, told reporters.

One of Gibran’s two competitors for the vice president’s post, Muhaimin Iskandar, on Wednesday praised Bawaslu saying the agency had acted “fairly.” 

“We are happy when ... election organizers, supervisors and law enforcers are objective, neutral, honest, fair, because that is a prerequisite for the success of the election,” the Liputan6 news site quoted Muhaimin as saying at a campaign event in Bandung.

“If the election is not fair and honest, it will be a generational time bomb and dangerous.”

Muhaimin is the running mate of presidential contender Anies Baswedan, a former governor of Jakarta. Prabowo’s other competitor is ruling party nominee Ganjar Pranowo, a former Central Java governor who’s running with Mohammad Mahfud MD, a minister in Jokowi’s cabinet.

Bawaslu’s summons is not Gibran’s first brush with controversy.

The 36-year-old was caught in a maelstrom after a Constitutional Court decision enabled him to run for vice president by lowering the age requirement from 40. The decision smacked of nepotism and clearly showed a conflict of interest, many said, because the court was at the time led by Gibran’s uncle.

Recent polls showed that the Prabowo-Gibran ticket leads the race.

Next month’s elections will also decide the composition of the People's Consultative Assembly, which consists of the House of Representatives and the Regional Representative Council, and local legislative bodies’ members.

‘Gray area’

One political analyst said it was a tough job for election monitors to differentiate between the activities of public officials running for office.

With Gibran being the mayor of Solo and Prabowo being the defense minister, it is hard to say if their activities are associated with their current positions or election campaign, said Wasisto Raharjo Djati, a political analyst at the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN).

“It’s sometimes tricky to tell when politicians are both candidates and public officials because they switch between the two roles. This makes this gray area tough to spot a violation [in],” he told BenarNews.

Public officials are not required to take time off during the campaign period, which makes it harder to distinguish between their activities.

Wasisto advised public officials in politics to clarify their roles at the start of any activity to avoid confusion among the public.

Another analyst, Ujang Komarudin, a political lecturer at Jakarta’s Al Azhar University, pointed to an unrelated issue.

He said that the National Election Supervisory Agency, of which the Central Jakarta one is a branch, had last week not found any fault with Gibran’s milk giveaway on a car-free day. Why then was the Central Jakarta branch looking into it again, he asked.

“This must be questioned. How can there be different views between the national agency and the Central Jakarta agency?” Ujang told BenarNews.

“This must be clear, so the public can judge that the agency is united and has one goal, which is to protect the elections according to the rules.”