Daniel A. Fajri, Jakarta – The State Palace denied reports that President Joko Widodo or Jokowi would appoint millions of civil apparatus if his eldest son Gibran Rakabuming Raka, Prabowo Subianto's running mate, won in the upcoming presidential election. The vow was first revealed by the Regional Secretary of the Takalar Government, South Sulawesi Province, Muhammad Hasbi.
"It is not true that the President makes promises to regional officials, let alone linking the recruitment process of civil servants (CPNS/CASN) to the victory of certain candidate pairs in the 2024 elections," said Presidential Special Staff Coordinator Ari Dwipayana to Tempo on Tuesday, January 16.
Ari asserted that the recruitment process of civil servants is the government policy designed by the Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform Ministry for a long time to accelerate bureaucratic reform and create public services with social impact.
"So it has nothing to do with the 2024 elections," he said.
Ari mentioned that the recruitment process was openly and transparently announced by the president to the public on January 5, 2024, in which the government opened 2.3 million formations.
Recently, a one-minute video of Takalar Secretary Muhammad Hasbi's speech on January 10, went viral on social media platforms. He told a forum attended by Takalar Education Agency officials and teachers from across the region that Jokowi promised to appoint millions of civil servants if Gibran was elected as a vice president.
The Election Supervisory Body (Bawaslu) of Takalar was investigating the alleged violations of the neutrality of state apparatus in campaigning for Prabowo-Gibran at the Balla Appaka Sulapa Museum in Takalar Regency.
"Bawaslu Takalar has formed a team to search for this information because no report has been received so far. Let's wait for the results," said a member of the South Sulawesi Bawaslu Saiful Jihad in Makassar, on Monday, January 15.
Tempo has not yet managed to reach the Takalar Regional Secretary for clarification.
Source: https://en.tempo.co/read/1821824/palace-denies-issues-on-jokowis-promise-if-gibran-electe