"Mr. (President) has been in office for more than four years now. We have found that the public sometimes feel injustice. For instance, when a governor expressed his support for the presidential and vice presidential candidates of number 01, it did not matter. But when a village chief in East Java threw his weight behind our candidacy, he was arrested and detained," he said.
The arrest is unjust treatment and human rights violation, he said.
"Freedom of expression is guaranteed by the Constitution. So, anybody can express support to somebody else. I think Mr. (Jokowi) should consider the issue to see if any of your subordinates has acted excessively," he said.
The first round of the 2019 presidential debate carried the theme of Law, Human Rights, Corruption, and Terrorism. This debate is one of the five presidential debates to be carried out based on Law No.7 of 2017 concerning Elections. The law mandated the presidential debate to be widely broadcast to the people of Indonesia.
The 2019 presidential election is a rematch for both Indonesian presidential candidates, Joko Widodo and Prabowo Subianto, who had previously competed in the 2014 presidential election.
Reporting by Benardy Ferdiansyah
Editing by Suharto
Reporter: Suharto
Editor: Azizah Fitriyanti
Copyright © ANTARA 2019
