Therefore, he appreciated her for her honesty. "I give her two thumbs up," Joko Widodo told graduates of several universities and schools who joined the "Declaration of Diponegoro Alumni Coalition`s Support for Jokowi-Amin Pair" here on Sunday.
The incumbent president, commonly known as Jokowi, admitted that he has known Ratna Sarumpaet as a brave and honest figure for long time. At the event, Widodo talked about the danger of proliferated fake news, and highlighted the Ratna Sarumpaet hoax case.
In October last year, Ratna was arrested and named a suspect after the police found that a photo showing her swollen face was not the result of an assault. Instead, her swollen face was caused by a cosmetic surgery at a hospital in Jakarta.
The police investigation`s findings had forced Ratna Sarumpaet to retract her false claims. However, her claims that she had been attacked by three assailants in the West Java city of Bandung had put the Prabowo Subianto-Sandiaga Uno camp in trouble.
The trouble emerged because a day before Ratna Sarumpaet retracted her false claims and the police could have proven her false claims, Prabowo and several figures within his camp happened to have made statements urging the police to probe into the assault case.
But, after realizing that Ratna Sarumpaet`s claims were absolutely not true, Prabowo Subianto openly apologized to the people.
Commenting on Ratna Sarumpaet`s honesty, Jokowi, who is competing with his tough contender Prabowo Subianto for winning the 2019 Presidential Election due to be held on April 17, appreciated her.
In dealing with information circulated through various social media platforms, the incumbent president said the people had been "smart".
The Declaration of the Diponegoro Alumni Coalition`s Support for the Joko Widodo-Ma`ruf Amin Pair was backed by the graduates of several public and privately-run universities and senior high schools around the Central Java city of Semarang.
The event was also joined by top politicians of the ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP), including Pramono Anung and Tjahjo Kumolo.
Reporting by Hanni Sofia, Rahmad Nasution
Editing by Suharto
Reporter: Antara
Editor: Suharto
Copyright © ANTARA 2019
