President Jokowi Emphasizes Bawaslu’s Central Role in Ensuring General Elections with Quality and Integrity
President Jokowi inaugurates National Consolidation of the General Elections Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu), at Bidakara Hotel, Jakarta, on Saturday (12/17). (Photo by: Bureau of Press, Media, and Information of Presidential Secretariat/Rusman)
President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo inaugurated National Consolidation of the General Elections Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) at Bidakara Hotel, Jakarta, on Saturday (12/17). In his remarks, President Jokowi emphasized the central role of general elections supervisory in ensuring general elections with quality and integrity.
“General elections supervisory occupies central position in order to ensure general elections with quality, and our people trust the result. As mandated by the law, we have to prepare general elections for the president, the vice president, members of the House of Representatives, Regional Representative Council, and Regional House of Representatives, and then followed by simultaneous regional general elections in the same year,” the President said.
According to the President, the General Elections and the Regional General Elections 2024 will become the biggest democratic fiesta in the history of general elections in Indonesia, and probably the biggest one in the world because it is held simultaneously in the same year. Therefore, compared to the previous elections, the General Elections 2024 will be an extensive and hard work.
“We also have to be careful on this since it involves a great number of voters in extensively wide area and various geographic conditions,” he added.
Nevertheless, the Head of State expressed belief that based on the experiences in organizing the previous general elections, Indonesia is well-prepared for the next general election with more qualities. According to the Head of State, the quality of the general election is an important political foundation for the state and the government.
“Therefore, on general elections supervisory, Bawaslu plays a central role. To maintain the elections’ integrity, the supervisory must be done in every stage of all elections. All the processes must be under intensive supervision and handled carefully to ensure general elections with quality,” he explained.
President Jokowi also reminded that in democracy process, trust is the key. General elections held with integrity will result a strong legitimacy. The President took an example of a football match. All parties will accept and approve the result of the match if it goes through a just process and has integrity.
The President mentioned the problem often exists in each general election, namely, final voters list (DPT) which is commonly used to point out unfair processes. Therefore, he expressed hope that Bawaslu will really work hard to supervise the process of making DPT.
“If there is any hindrance, particularlly coming from non-cooperative government parties, Mr. Rahmat Bagja may report it to me, because the DPT is a crucial issue. From time to time, DPT always becomes a source of problem that affects the people’s trust. Data has become our weakness since our geographic area is extensively wide and various. Therefore, once again, Bawaslu, must always be present to ensure free, confidential, fair, and just general elections,” he remarked.
Attending the event were Minister of Law and Human Rights Yasonna H. Laoly, Chaiperson of Bawaslu Rahmat Bagja, Chairperson of General Elections Commission Hasyim Asy’ari, Chairperson of Election Organization Ethics Council (DKPP) Heddy Lugito, and Interim Governor of Jakarta Heru Budi Hartono. (Bureau of Press, Media, and Information of Presidential Secretariat/UN) (AW/MUR)
