TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Vice presidential candidate number 01 Ma'ruf Amin was reported to the Election Supervisory Board (Bawaslu) by a group called Advocates Care for Election (Advokat Peduli Pemilu) Thursday, March 21.

Ma'ruf was accused of neglecting the spread of false or hoax information conveyed by a preacher in an event.

The group coordinator, Papang Sapari, said that the report was lodged based on a 1-minute and 25-seconds video circulated on social media, in which displaying an Islamic lecturer who was saying that if Ma'ruf Amin and Jokowi not elected in the election, tahlil (prayer gathering) and zikr (prayer recital) will be banned in the State Palace.

“We report Ma'ruf Amin because he neglected the speech. He directly heard and saw it that should have been stopped. [Because] it harms the candidate number 02,” Papang told reporters at the Bawaslu office today.

Read: Ma'ruf Amin: Such Losses if We Do Not Vote for Jokowi

Papang opined Ma'ruf Amin deliberately let the preacher saying those remarks, and that meant the running mate of Jokowi’s act was considered as a black campaign. “The preacher did it, but why Ma’ruf Amin stood still,” he added.

Papang continued to say that his side has reported Ma'ruf Amin under the accusation of violating the Election Law Article 280 1 c and d in conjunction with Article 521.

Meanwhile, the Jokowi - Ma'ruf campaign team advocacy director, Ade Irfan Pulungan, said that the report has the wrong address because Ma’ruf Amin did not do anything in the video.

“They should report the video uploader and see the whole version of the video. Pak Ma'ruf did not do a thing. So it’s a wrong report,” said Ade via a phone call with Tempo.

IQBAL TAWAKAL LAZUARDI (CONTRIBUTOR)