Sultan HB X Questions Motives of May 22 Protest

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Sultan Hamengku Buwono X of the Yogyakarta Palace openly questioned the motives and legitimacy of the planned rally on May 22, 2019, that sought to protest against the presidential election results.

The mass mobilization is called for by a number of public figures linked to the Prabowo-Sandiaga campaign team (BPN) in response to suspected electoral rigging.

“What’s the context behind the May 22 rally? I’m not too sure about it,” said the sultan, who's also the governor of the region, on Monday, May 20.

The sultan said that if the rally was meant to protest against the simultaneous general election’s shortfalls then it was not a strong reason for such a movement to take place. 

Read: Yogyakarta's Sultan HB X against Idea of People Power Movement

“If there are shortfalls in the general elections, then we should admit that there are shortcomings, an election can’t just be perfect without problems hovering over it,” said the sultan, who also strongly suggested that such problems should be solved through the law.

As for the political dynamics following the election day, the sultan believed that the majority of Indonesians were able to grasp the developments of the current situation, and that the people were obligated to vote for the future president and vice president and nothing else.

Commenting, the potential terror threats that are said to be looming over the May 22 mass-rally, the sultan was confident the Indonesian National Police (Polri) and the Armed Forces (TNI) could deal with them.

PRIBADI WICAKSONO