TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – Black campaigns against the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P)’s presidential contender Joko “Jokowi” Widodo have continued to surface. This morning, people were perplexed by an obituary of the Jakarta governor circulating on Facebook and Twitter.
The obituary appeared on the social media networks with a design commonly used for that of newspapers. The obituary, measuring 20 x 20 centimeters and printed in black and white, showed a photograph of Jokowi smiling on its upper left side.
The obituary described Jokowi as an Indonesian of Chinese-descent and a Christian, bearing a baptismal name of Herbertus and a Chinese name of Oey Hong Liong.
The obituary said Jokowi passed away at the age of 53 on last Sunday at 3.30 p.m. and his body was laid out at the PDI-P’s headquarters in Lenteng Agung, Jakarta, before being cremated yesterday.
The name of Jokowi’s wife, Iriana Widodo, was also mentioned in the obituary along with condolences from PDI-P’s chair Megawati Soekarnoputri and Jokowi’s presidential campaign team.
The obituary has vexed Jokowi's supporters, who condemned it as a black campaign involving the sensitive SARA (ethnicity, religion, race, and inter-group relations) issues.
ISTMAN MP