Marguerite Afra Sapiie, Surabaya – President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has received a Press Freedom Award for his administration's commitment to protect the freedom of the press at the peak of an event in celebration of the 2019 National Press Day in Surabaya on Saturday.

Press Council chairman Yosep Adi Prasetyo presented the award to the President an event that Jokowi, who is in the fifth year of his first term as head of state and is seeking reelection in April, attended on Saturday.

Yosep said that the award was presented to the President as a token of appreciation for his contribution to protecting the spirit of press freedom over the last five years.

"Jokowi's administration never interfered with the freedom of the press and he always let all problems related to the press be handled by the Press Council," Yosep told The Jakarta Post on the sidelines of the event.

"[He] performed the maximum role that a state could have done and it should be appreciated," he went on.

Awards are a tradition of the National Press Day commemorations, Yosep said, adding that former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was also bestowed one.

Yudhoyono received the Friend of the Press Award on the last National Press Day celebration that he attended during his second and final term in 2014.

During his speech on Saturday, Jokowi said the government was committed to upholding freedom of the press. "Such freedom must be maintained with moral responsibility and ethics, which is in line with the Press Law and the Broadcasting Law," he said.

Source: https://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2019/02/09/jokowi-receives-press-freedom-award.html