Jakarta — The Indonesian National Police issued a telegram suggesting that the police will monitor the movement of supporters and non-supporters of Joko “Jokowi” Widodo that are represented through four social media hashtags; #2019GantiPresiden (change the president in 2019), #2019TetapJokowi (Jokowi to stay in 2019), #Jokowi2Periode (Jokowi two administrations), and #2019PrabowoPresiden (Prabowo Subianto for president).
The existence of such telegram was confirmed by National Police Spokesman Inspector General Setyo Wasisto. “Yes, that is true. Feel free to quote it,’ said Setyo in a text message.
The telegram is meant for police members in the position as Intelligence and Security Director at regional polices signed under STR/1852/VIII/2018 of August 30, 2018. The letter was signed by Head of National Police’s Security Intelligence Agency (Baintelkam) Police Comm. Gen. Lutfi Lubihanto.
Setyo explained that the police has detected an increasing heat among supporters, which they deemed necessary to issue a special policy to prevent public discordance. “The conflict can come in the form of horizontal conflict between supporters of each presidential and vice presidential candidate,” said Setyo.
Police acknowledge the #2019GantiPresiden as a form of expressing an opinion in public, which is regulated under Law No.9/1998 which mandates people to report to the police prior to the declaration. Police are also authorized to not issue an approval letter upon a group’s request is it is deemed as a potential interference for public order and security.
