TEMPO.CO, Jakarta -The Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) criticized the statement made by President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, who gave allows his state ministers to enter the 2024 General Elections without having to resign from their active position as a state officials.

Despite giving criticism towards the President’s statement, the antigraft watchdog claimed that they are not surprised with Jokowi’s action. ICW argued that the President often acts permissively in situations that are prone to conflict of interest.

“We’ve long argued that the President is indeed permissive with situations that are linked to conflict of interest,” said ICW researcher Kurnia Ramadhana on Tuesday, May 16, 2023.

According to Kurnia, regulations do not require state ministers to resign from their position if they run for candidates in a general election. However, the researcher argued that the President should have an understanding that the use of state facilities and the abuse of authority does exist.

“The President should understand that there is a potential for state facilities to be misused for the political practices of the state ministers,” said Kurnia.

The ICW researcher said that Jokowi actually has an alternative option if he disagrees with officials resigning, which is by appointing replacements for empty positions. However, Kurnia believed that Jokowi will not likely to take that route.

As reported previously, President Jokowi openly stated that active state officials who will run for the general electionsstate m in 2024 are not required to resign, as long as they do not abandon what they are tasked to do.

ROSSENO AJI | FAJAR PEBRIANTO

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