KSP Shrugs Off Comparison of President Jokowi to Late-Ruler Soeharto

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Presidential Staff Office (KSP) main expert staffer Ali Mochtar Ngabalin on Monday responded to the criticism aimed at President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo and allegations of repressive tendencies in handling the Wadas conflict. Some have even likened the President with the late President Soeharto who ruled the country for over three decades. 

The criticism came from the Indonesian People’s Faction (Fraksi Rakyat Indonesia) and the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI), to which Ngabalin said is just slander. 

“If the Wadas case is used to compare Jokowi to the Soeharto era, [those people] might not know what is happening in the field,” said Ngabalin to Tempo on February 14. 

Apart from that, Ngabalin asserted that the land-related conflict Wadas village, Central Java, should have been resolved by the local regent and the President should not have been dragged into the argument. 

As a direct response to the YLBHI allegation, he stated that it was a tendentious behavior. Ngabalin also responded to those alleging Jokowi of prioritizing physical development similar to the Soeharto era by asserting that state constructions have only been realized under Jokowi’s terms. 

“Everything only existed under the Jokowi administration. It is only able to be realized after going through the administrations led by Soekarno, Soeharto, and SBY,” said the Presidential Office spokesperson. 

Read: YLBHI Shares 10 Similarities between Jokowi's Leadership and Soeharto's

M JULNIS FIRMANSYAH