Jokowi Gathers Village Head Associations at Jakarta Palace

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - President Joko Widodo or Jokowi welcomed the visit of the alliance of village heads associations at the State Palace in Jakarta on Friday, Dec. 29. The meeting was attended by the Indonesian Village Government Apparatus Association (Papdesi), the Association of Indonesian Village Governments (Apdesi), and the East Java Regional Heads Association.

Senthot Rudi Prastiono, the secretary-general of Papdesi, claimed there was no political discussion at the meeting and the President and the village heads only talked about the revision of Law No. 6 of 2014 on villages. “There was no political discussion at all,” he said after the meeting. 

On November 7, 2023, President Jokowi summoned Apdesi to the Palace. One of those present was Surtawijaya, a village head who once supported Jokowi for three terms. Surtawijaya said they talked about the revision of the Village Law, including the plan to extend the term of office of village heads. 

A few days later, on Sunday, November 19, thousands of village heads held a National Gathering of United Villages at the Indonesia Arena in Jakarta, to declare their support for the pair endorsed by the Onward Indonesia Coalition, Prabowo Subianto and Jokowi's eldest son Gibran Rakabuming Raka, in the 2024 presidential election.

When met at the Palace on Friday, Senthot also said village heads were expected to maintain peaceful elections and no specific directions from President Jokowi to support certain presidential candidate ticket.

DANIEL A. FAJRI

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