Pressures Mount on Ganjar-Mahfud Team, Reveals PDI-P Campaign
By Fika Nurul Ulya, Dani Prabowo and Editorial Team, November 18, 2023
JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com – Hasto Kristiyanto, Secretary of the national campaign team for the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) 2024 presidential election candidates Mr. Ganjar Pranowo and Mr. Mahfud MD, said that there have been mounting pressures on their campaign activities.
He revealed this during a break at a regional campaign team meeting for Ganjar-Mahfud at Hotel Sari Pacific, Central Jakarta, Saturday (18/11/2023). “Yes, there has been pressures, especially considering the circumstances. We’ve seen how even the Constitutional Court can be [the target of government] intervention, even though it is a judicial body. This is all the more possible with other [institutions],” said Mr. Hasto in Jakarta on Saturday.
Mr. Hasto then cited several instances of pressures experienced such as alleged intimidation of the executive director of polling company “Charta Politika Indonesia“1 Mr. Yunarto Wijaya whose research has captured an increasing electoral appeal of PDI-P’s candidates Ganjar-Mahfud. Not only that, there were also claims of pressures experienced by social media activist Mr. Ulin Ni’am Yusron and House Representative Mr. Adian Napitupulu (PDI-P West Java)2.
“So a variety of signals have appeared. But for us, when politics is moved by the belief in the nation’s future and rooted deeply in the history of the power of the people, this only strengthens our identity,” he said.
Mr. Hasto asserted that despite these pressures, the fighting spirit of the Ganjar-Mahfud team would not diminish. They will just keep moving forward especially as a lot of citizens have demonstrated their support for the team.
Among the signs of support from the people is their willingness to provide their homes to display banners when Ganjar-Mahfud banners are removed from the streets.
“When there was pressure to remove Ganjar-Mahfud banners, the people offered their homes. This is the essence of a people’s movement. This is what makes us different from the others,” he explained.
As previously reported, the removal of billboards or banners featuring one of the presidential and vice-presidential candidate tickets has happened in several regions. Most recently, the Yogyakarta municipal public sanitation department (Satpol PP) has removed small banners featuring Mr. Ganjar Pranowo.
The Chairman of the PDI-P Yogyakarta regional leadership council, Mr. Eko Suwanto, questioned the legal basis used by the Yogyakarta sanitation department. He wanted to know why they had used regulation No.6/2022 related to advertising. He pointed out that mayoral regulation No.75/2023 related to election campaign advertising materials issued on November 8, 2023 already existed.
“There should be no legal uncertainty in the 2024 elections,” Mr. Eko said in a statement on Friday.
Meanwhile, the head of the sanitation department, Mr. Octo Noor Arafat, emphasized that they do not selectively remove banners in Yogyakarta. “There is no selective removal. It’s a routine activity, maybe it happened when the candidate visited the city during the day or something, I don’t know,” said Mr. Octo, when contacted on Thursday.
Mr. Octo explained that the removal of banners is a routine activity to enforce regulation No. 6/2022 related to advertising.
This article is based on https://nasional.kompas.com/read/2023/11/18/16113281/hasto-ungkap-tim-ganjar-mahfud-mulai-dapat-tekanan
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