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Prabowo's camp accuses Jokowi of taking undue credit for Siti Aisyah's release

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Coconuts Jakarta - March 13, 2019

While the release of Siti Aisyah – one of the two women accused of assassinating Kim Jong-nam, the half brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un – was warmly welcomed in Indonesia, it has sparked accusations that President Joko Widodo's administration has politicized her freedom by taking credit for it in order to benefit the incumbent's bid for reelection in April.

Previously, government officials told the media that Siti Aisyah's release was the result of lengthy and intense diplomatic efforts with their Malaysian counterparts, which also supposedly included President Jokowi personally entreating Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Bin Mohamad for Siti's release.

However, in an interview yesterday, Mahathir denied ever receiving a request from Jokowi for Siti's release and said he was not aware of any lobbying from the Indonesian government, saying instead that her freedom was purely the decision of the court.

Today, the campaign team for Jokowi's challenger Prabowo Subianto and his running mate Sandiaga Uno pounced on Mahathir's denial to accuse Jokowi's government of spreading misinformation, as tweeted by campaign spokesperson Dahnil Anzar Simanjuntak this morning.

Producers of hoaxes and lies are real. Now, the hoax that they lobbied [the Malaysian government] was directly denied by the Malaysian prime minister, resulting in the [smearing] of Indonesia's good name in international politics. – Dahnil A Simanjuntak (@Dahnilanzar) March 13, 2019

Dahnil also tweeted at Mahathir to apologize directly to the Malaysian PM on behalf of the Indonesian government.

Tun Dr @chedetofficial we are sorry for our government who claimed they lobbied the Malaysian government regarding Siti Aisyah. We respect the court's decision which ruled that there is no proof that SA (Siti Aisyah) was involved in the murder. – Dahnil A Simanjuntak (@Dahnilanzar) March 13, 2019

Jokowi himself has never explicitly personally claimed that he helped influence Siti Aisyah's release. When he invited her and her family to the Presidential Palace yesterday, Jokowi delivered a speech in which he said Siti Aisyah's release was partially the result of legal aid by the government – which they are obligated to provide to Indonesians in trouble abroad – since her arrest two years ago.

There also doesn't seem to be much of a consensus in Malaysia regarding the Indonesian government's role in Siti Aisyah's freedom. Previously, according to documents released by Indonesian officials, Law and Human Rights Minister Yasonna H. Laoly – under the order of President Jokowi – had written to Malaysia's Attorney General Tommy Thomas to ask for help in the release of Siti Aisyah, which the latter agreed to by saying he would instruct prosecution to throw out the case in his reply.

Both Siti, and another woman – Vietnamese national Duan Thi Huong – were arrested after they were seemingly captured on airport CCTV helping carry out Kim Jong-nam's murder by smearing a nerve agent on his face in the middle of Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2. Had they been found guilty, both could have faced the death penalty.

Previously, the women had argued that they were tricked into thinking they were taking part in prank on a Japanese game show. In actuality, the two appear to have used VX nerve agent to kill Jong-nam in less than 20 minutes.

Last year, the prosecution made a motion to throw out the case; at the time, the judge ruled that both Siti and Duon should testify, not ruling out that the entire incident could have been a conspiracy between the women and their North Korean counterparts to assassinate the leader's older brother. Jong-nam had previously been his father's favorite son and next in line for succession until an embarrassing international incident saw him use a fake Dominican passport to enter Japan. Allegedly, he had just been trying to visit Tokyo's Disneyland.

Jong-nam would come to be based in Macau, occasionally issuing public statements denouncing his brother's regime as "a joke." However, reports have since emerged that he had become fearful of his brother's ever-reaching arm, and his retaliatory actions.

At the time of his death, Jong-nam was carrying 12 doses of VX nerve agent antidote in his bag.

Source: https://coconuts.co/jakarta/news/prabowos-camp-accuses-jokowi-taking-undue-credit-siti-aisyahs-release-malaysian-pm-denies-indonesian-intervention/

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