TEMPO.CO, Solo - During his speech in Solo today, August 9, President Jokowi mentioned the word dictatorship and authoritarian multiple times. President Joko Widodo responded to numerous social media critics that have been accusing him of turning into a dictator and authoritarian.
The accusations emerged following the release of Government Regulation in Lieu of Law No. 2/2017 on Mass Organizations (Perpu Ormas). The law functions as a tool to disband organizations that against Indonesia’s state ideology Pancasila (five state principles).
Read: Jokowi: No Groups Can Force Their Will
The first organization to be disbanded under the new rule was Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia (HTI) that intended to establish their version of an Islamic caliphate in hopes to replace democracy.
President Jokowi was also accused of being a dictator following the release of the Presidential Election Law that mandates a 20 percent presidential threshold. Some groups consider this move as Jokowi’s attempt to withhold the possibility of having another presidential candidate in the 2019 presidential election.
Responding to the accusations, President Jokowi lightly replied by asking the journalists present in his speech whether his face resembles a dictator or not.
He asked the question because, according to him, the majority of people used to consider him as a person that is delicate and Ndeso - Ndeso is an Indonesian slang word often used a joke which can be translated into tacky or describing a person with rural mentality.
“At first, people considered me “ndeso”. Some also called me a delicate and unconfident president. But as soon as we enforced the UU Ormas, people accused us of being authoritarian and pro-dictatorship,” said President Jokowi.
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