APSN Banner

Prabowo's campaign says he is not responsible for violent rioting by protesters

Source
Coconuts Jakarta - May 22, 2019

On Indonesian Twitter, the biggest trending hashtag today has been #TangkapPrabowo (#ArrestPrabowo), which is primarily being popularlized by netizens who think the two-time presidential election loser should be held legally responsible for his role in inciting the violent protests that broke out last night in Jakarta.

But according to his campaign, neither the former general nor any of his supporters can be held responsible for the recent violence in the capital because it was caused by outside provocateurs.

"The ones who are responsible are of course those who do the provocation or those who commit violence," senior Prabowo campaign spokesperson Dahnil Anzar Simanjuntak said this morning at Prabowo's residence in Jakarta as quoted by CNN Indonesia.

Dahnil said his camp did not feel responsible because, from the beginning, Prabowo had insisted on taking a legal path to challenge the outcome of the presidential election and only expressed support for peaceful movements using people's democratic rights.

"From the beginning, Pak Prabowo decided to use the constitutional path, supported all constitutional efforts and encouraged only peaceful movements as part of our democratic rights," Dahnil said.

In fact, it was only yesterday that Prabowo's campaign flipped-flopped on the matter of whether they would challenge the results of the election via the legal venue of the court system.

Previously, they had declared that they would not challenge the results in the Constitutional Court (as Prabowo had done unsuccessfully in 2014, the first time he lost to President Joko Widodo), saying they would not be able to get a fair hearing.

However, yesterday, Prabowo announced he would challenge the results in the Constitutional Court after all.

Prabowo and his campaign have sought to delegitimize the results of the election ever since he declared himself the victor on the same day the vote took place, April 17, after all of the quick count polls consistently showed a clear victory for Jokowi.

After the official election results were unexpectedly released early yesterday morning, news broke the Prabowo had been named a suspect by the police in a treason investigation, but soon after the news spread police pulled Prabowo's suspect status.

As for Prabowo's reaction to the riots, so far all we have is his deafening silence. He has reportedly been holed up in his Jakarta residence with his senior advisors discussing their Constitutional Court case.

Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan said that at least six people have died and more than 200 injured during last night's rioting.

Source: https://coconuts.co/jakarta/news/prabowos-campaign-says-he-is-not-responsible-for-violent-rioting-by-protesters/

Country