Jakarta – President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has called on all ministers and state officials to be more careful about making statements in public.
Jokowi made the statement in response to journalists' questions regarding Law and Human Rights Minister Yasonna Laoly, who conveyed incorrect information regarding the whereabouts of bribery suspect and Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) politician Harun Masiku.
"Please be more careful, especially when it comes to data, numbers and legal matters. Don't trust information without verifying it first," he said on Friday.
Yasonna has been under scrutiny after he, alongside some other high-profile PDI-P officials, claimed that Harun left for Singapore on Jan. 6 and had yet to return to the country, when he had in fact returned to Indonesia on Jan. 7.
A report by Tempo magazine claimed evidence, including CCTV footage, indicated that Harun had returned on Jan. 7. After days of denial, the immigration director general, Ronny F. Sompie, who is Yasonna's subordinate in the ministry, confirmed the veracity of Tempo's report on Wednesday.
He said there had been a "delay in the processing of traffic data at Terminal F" of Soekarno-Hatta International Airport after Harun entered on Jan. 7.