Jakarta – As the moderator of the 2019 presidential debate held by the General Elections Commission (KPU), seasoned host Ira Koesno said she wants a fierce debate between the candidates Joko Widodo-Ma'ruf Amin and Prabowo Subianto-Sandiaga Uno on Jan. 17, despite the four knowing the questions beforehand.
"Even though they would get the questions in advance, I still want [the debate] to be fierce and use words easily understood by the people," Ira said on Thursday as quoted by kompas.com.
Ira said she was optimistic that the "cheat sheet" from the KPU would not make the debate, which is to focus on legal, human rights, terrorism and corruption issues, predictable.
Ira, who was deemed to have successfully moderated the debate during the 2017 Jakarta gubernatorial election, said the second segment, in which candidates ask each other questions, would be more unpredictable.
Imam Priyono, Ira's co-moderator for the debate, said he has prepared ways to make the questions "sharper" for the candidates by selecting difficult phrases and diction because the questions could be complex and academic. (ggq)