Prabowo-Gibran Campaign Team Responds to Abuse of Power

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The head of the Prabowo-Gibran National Campaign Team (TKN), Rosan Roeslani, responded to allegations that his team had mobilized village government officials to support the Prabowo-Gibran pair. The alleged mobilization of state apparatus was published in Tempo magazine.

Rosan neither denied nor confirmed the allegation. He said that in a democratic country, everyone has the right to say anything. "Anyone can say anything," he said when met at the Djakarta Theater, Central Jakarta on Saturday, December 9, 2023.

However, Rosan said that his party would emphasize political education in the 2024 Election. "Don't make politics a priori, a scary thing, a hoax," he said.

Political education, Rosan said, targets young voters. "So do this cheerfully as Mr. Prabowo said, with positive thinking, a positive aura, transparency," he said.

As reported by Tempo magazine, two administrators of the Indonesian Village Government Apparatus Association (Perkumpulan Aparatur Pemerintah Desa Seluruh Indonesia - Papdesi) said that many of their colleagues were afraid after a number of village heads were questioned by the police.

They were reluctant to take part in politics again, especially supporting Ganjar Pranowo-Mahfud Md and Anies Baswedan-Muhaimin Iskandar. Supporters of the two pairs were most frequently questioned by the police.

However, there were also village heads who outsmarted their colleagues to support Prabowo-Gibran. Some of them attended the All Indonesia Local Government Association or Apdesi event in Jakarta. A number of sources Tempo spoke to mentioned that the East Java Regional Police paid for village heads in the province to come to Gelora Bung Karno.

The summoning of village heads also occurred in Central Java. On Thursday, November 16, 2023, the Central Java Regional Police ordered village heads in Karanganyar to appear before investigators from the Special Criminal Investigation Directorate on November 27-29, 2023. The police are investigating the use of village aspiration funds assisted by the Central Java Provincial Government.

The summons was leaked and circulated on social media. The head of the Papdesi Karanganyar Branch Council, Sutarso, only learned of the summons after it was widely reported. Although he said he was ready to be questioned by the police, he was still surprised. "This is the first time there has been a summons like this," said Sutarso on Thursday, November 30, 2023.

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