TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Vice presidential candidate Sandiaga Uno rejects his campaign team’s suggestion that the presidential debate should be done using English. Speaking to reporters after a swim in Senayan, today, Sandiaga said he personally thinks that a debate in English is unnecessary.

He said it would be more effective to use Indonesian, considering the audience is the Indonesian people, from various levels of the society. He’s unsure that a debate in English would be well-digested by everyone.

The existence of the national language, he added, is also at stake here.

The proposal for candidates to debate in English was made on September 13 by the Prabowo-Sandiaga camp. National Mandate Party (PAN) Yandri Susanto said country leaders would interact with heads of state in international forum, and that was the reason behind the suggestion.

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The Prabowo camp also suggested extending the debate time from 3 minutes to an hour to give enough time for candidates to convey their campaigns.

Meanwhile, Sandiaga Uno said that he would prefer the debate method is changed into a discussion or a meeting. “Urun rembug or saresehan is better. I feel like a debate is an act of attacking,” he said here on Friday, adding that he fears a debate would widen the gap between each camp.

FRANCISCA CHRISTY ROSANA