Luhut, Sri Mulyani Reported to Bawaslu over Alleged Campaign

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan and Finance Minister Sri Mulyani were officially reported by a citizen named Dahlan Pido to the Election Supervisory Board (Bawaslu), Thursday, Oct 18, for an alleged campaign during the photo session in the closing event of IMF-World Bank forum.

“There is an alleged violation committed by state officials Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan and Sri Mulyani,” said Dahlan in Bawaslu office, Jakarta.

Luhut and Sri Mulyani were accused of campaigning presidential election in an international forum. On Sunday evening, Oct 14, Luhut held up ‘one-finger salute’ before the World Bank President Jim Yong Kim and IMF Director Christine Lagarde.

Sri Mulyani remarked that one-finger salute for Joko Widodo and two-finger salute for Prabowo Subianto. Then, the two international guests displayed one finger salute.

According to Dahlan, the pose of Luhut and Sri Mulyani by holding up two-finger salute was a form of campaign acts because the one-finger salute referred to the presidential candidate number one, which is Jokowi and Ma'ruf Amin. 

During the closing session, Luhut corrected the finger pose of IMF Director who previously showed two-finger pose. “IMF Director displays victory with two-finger pose which then changed by Luhut to one for Jokowi.”

Dahlan’s attorney M. Taufiqurrahman said his client brought the evidence such as news footages from several media and the video regarding the closing event of IMF-World Bank Meeting. “We fully let Bawaslu decide whether it was election violation or not.”

SYAFIUL HADI | FRANCISCA CHRISTY