TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - President Joko Widodo or Jokowi fully supports the plan of the General Election Supervisory Board (Bawaslu) to establish social media supervisory program ahead of the 2024 General Election. The president views that social media often becomes the source of problems regarding elections.

Jokowi likens social media as a means to spread issues that will eventually affect the situation in the field. "Because the problem often starts with social media,” he said at the Bawaslu National Consolidation event in South Jakarta, Saturday, December 17, 2022.

He, therefore, highly supports Bawaslu build a team to supervise social media. Jokowi also reminded the institution to pay attention to issues about identity politics, race, ethnicity, religion, and group, until hoaxes.

According to the president, those are prone to occur ahead of the 2024 Election. As a result, the integrity of the country can be divided. Therefore, he asked Bawaslu to act immediately if they found similar incidents in the field.

"If there is a small spark about this, warn them immediately. Don't hesitate, warn immediately, [and] make a summons. It'll make them nervous," he said.

One of the efforts to avoid those issues is to make a rigid regulation, said Jokowi. He encouraged Bawaslu and the General Elections Commission (KPU) to work together in creating this rule.

President Jokowi also warned Bawaslu and KPU to not make regulations with multiple interpretations, so a warning can be conveyed with a clear basis.

Ima Dini Shafira

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