DPR Deputy Speaker Suggests Anies Baswedan to Stop Giving Speech  

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The House of Representatives (DPR) Deputy Speaker Fahri Hamzah said that Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan better stop giving too many speeches. Fahri said that Anies should instead convince the Jakartans that his programs will work.

The DPR speaker also suggested the Governor have a walkabout around the city to find out the existing problems.

“Convince people that [you will] do this, clean that… That’s what he should do, to be everywhere. Don’t give too many speeches, it could cause problems,” Fahri Hamzah said today, Oct. 18, at the parliamentary complex in Jakarta.

Fahri said that Anies should learn how to deliver speeches from former Jakarta governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama (Ahok). He said that Ahok mostly talked about technical issues in his speeches.

Regarding Anies’ controversial remark about native Indonesian (pribumi) that could result in ethnicity and religious sentiment, Fahri said that the public should not feel offended with the term. He said that the term is written in the history of the national struggle for independence and that it is relevant to the struggle against capitalists who control the country.

“We are all pribumi who face colonialism by capitalists who come to Indonesia, take charge, grab strategic lands, control public services. So we shall say that pribumi should fight them. It’s nothing, don’t feel offended; it’s who we are,” the DPR Deputy Speaker said.

AHMAD FAIZ IBNU SANI