By: Fajar Lesmana) *
The second round of the Presidential Candidates debate at the Sultan Hotel, Jakarta, last night was colored by chaos in the debate room. The riots were triggered by strong protests from the National Winning Body (BPN) Prabowo – Sandi over the statement of presidential candidate Joko Widodo about the land owned by Prabowo.
The riot was recorded in a video uploaded by the Deputy Secretary General of the Democratic Party, Andi Arief, on his personal twitter account.
In the recording, a number of members of the National Land Agency (BPN) crowded into a row of seats allegedly occupied by members of the KPU and Bawaslu. While from the other seats section Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs, Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan came to the crowd.
Luhut in the recording was also seen being taken away from the crowd by a number of people, including the Deputy Director of BPN’s Advocacy and Legal Affairs, Ferdinan Hutahaean.
Presidential Decree No. 01 Joko Widodo related to hundreds of thousands of hectares of state-owned land managed by Prabowo Subianto in the second round of debates, not disputed by the General Election Commission (KPU).
Viryan Azis as the Commissioner of the Commission considers that Jokowi’s statement was not an attack. “Why is it considered attacking? You only deliver data, “Viryan said
During the second round of the Presidential Candidates debate, Jokowi had said that Prabowo owned an area of 220 thousand hectares in East Kalimantan and an area of 120 thousand hectares in Central Aceh District, Aceh Special Region.
At that time Prabowo acknowledged the data submitted by Jokowi and stated that his land had the status of a Business Use Right (HGU) which at any time could be taken by the state.
The National Winning Body (BPN) Prabowo – Sandiaga Uno has protested over Jokowi’s statement. The BPN considers it a personal attack.
BPN Deputy Chairman Priyo Budi Santoso said that he immediately asked the KPU at the debate location, shortly after Jokowi discussed Prabowo’s ownership.
Meanwhile, Viryan reminded BPN Prabowo – Sandi that there had been an agreement regarding the presidential debate.
He said Bawaslu was ready if there were complaints from candidates about alleged violations in the debate.
This also drew the attention of Researchers of the Association for Elections and Democracy (Perludem) Fadli Ramahanil who considered Joko Widodo’s statement when addressing the issue of land tenure by Prabowo Subianto in the second presidential debate as legitimate. According to Fadli, Jokowi’s statement was still not past the campaign ban.
“It’s okay, this is the process of public debate, where the space is to provide information to voters,” said Fadli.
Fadli even mentioned that each presidential candidate may also attack personally during the debate. He said it was okay to do it. The condition, said in, must be fact-based and does not violate the campaign provisions stipulated in law number 7 of 2017 concerning Elections and KPU Regulation (PKPU) No. 334 of 2018.
Fadli then affirmed that Law Number 7 of 2017 and PKPU No. 23 of 2018 does not prohibit each presidential candidate from attacking him personally during the debate. He said, there are no sentences or phrases that mention it explicitly.
Debate between the Presidential Candidates and Vice President is also regulated in Law No. 7 of 2017 concerning Elections. Exactly in article 277. Debates are also regulated in the General Election Commission Regulation (PKPU) Number 23 of 2018 in article 48. However, there are no sentences or phrases which call the presidential candidates – the vice president is prohibited from attacking personally during the debate.
Raja Juli Antoni as Jokowi’s TKN – Ma’ruf also spoke up “Nothing personal huh Yesterday it was noisy, this is not personal but really a matter of policy, “said Deputy Secretary of TK Jokowi – Maufuf.
“Mr. Jokowi doesn’t talk about his family, Mr. Prabowo, what is his wife doing, don’t talk about it, but he talks about policies, policies,” he added.
Antoni explained, the statement about the land came out to respond to Prabowo’s question about the distribution of certificates carried out by Jokowi which had an impact on the absence of land for future children.
In addition, said Antoni, Jokowi touched on the issue of Prabowo’s land in East Kalimantan and Aceh to remind Prabowo. Bearing in mind, candidate number 02 often mentioned that land and state wealth were controlled by a handful of people.
“Actually, the relevance is not that, the relevance is that during this time Pak Prabowo talked about social inequality, accumulated 1% including land assets and wealth in only 1% of the Indonesian people, Mr. Jokowi wanted to say that it was not his policy, but the policy of Pak Harto, Mr. Prabowo’s father-in-law, until the President’s last day yesterday, “said Antoni.
Previously, during the second debate, Jokowi answered Prabowo’s innuendo regarding the distribution of land certificates that he often did. Jokowi said that the certificate he shared was with small people.
Then Jokowi conveyed that the certificate was distributed not on large land. Because before Prabowo insinuated that what Jokowi did had an impact on the absence of land for posterity later.
If reviewed, this should not need to cause chaos, because what Jokowi said at the time of the debate was only delivering data, not a personal or family problem.
) * The author is a sociopolitical observer