Ex-army Chief Moeldoko Firm Against Rouge Meeting of Ijtima Ulama

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Presidential Chief of Staff Moeldoko was assertive against the opposition’s meeting dubbed the ijtima ulama III, especially toward the meeting’s one major ruling which seeks to urge the disqualification of incumbent Jokowi – Ma’ruf Amin from the presidential election.

“We have our Constitution, now what does this ijtima serve. This is a lawful country, not an ijtima country, isn’t it?” said Moeldoko in Jakarta on Thursday, May 2.

The third ijtima meeting between several ulema sought to urge two elections agencies; Bawaslu and KPU, to disqualify the incumbent presidential candidate.   

Moeldoko asserted that under the Indonesia Constitution, anyone is allowed to express their opinion that adheres to the law and not based on such rouge meeting.

“I’ll be brave enough to speak about this concern clearly because if not, the country would fall apart,” said the retired Indonesian Army Chief.  

The third ijtima ulama meeting was held at the Hotel Lorin in Bogor, West Java, on May 1. This meeting is a gathering of ulema that side with opposition presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto.

Despite holding no hard evidence, their latest meeting agreed that the presidential election on April 17 was marred with frauds and massive systematic criminal activities and that the Prabowo – Sandiaga Uno camp must fight against such injustice.

The ulema in the meeting also called for General Elections Commission (KPU) and elections supervisory agency (Bawaslu) to disqualify Jokowi – Ma’ruf Amin’s candidacy.

FRISKI RIANA

Read: Ijtima Ulama Meet Is a Reckless Political Maneuver: Jokowi Camp