Sukabumi, W Java (ANTARA) - Foreign workers in Indonesia merely constituted 0.03 percent of the nation's total populace, according to Incumbent presidential candidate Joko Widodo (Jokowi).

"The number of foreign workers in Indonesia reaches just 80 thousand in comparison with Indonesia's population of 260 million," Jokowi noted at an open rally at the Bazul Ashyab Building in Cikembar Sub-district, Sukabumi District, West Java Province, on Thursday.

This percentage is far lesser as compared to the number of foreign workers reaching 80 percent in the United Arab Emirates, 33 percent in Saudi Arabia, and five percent in Malaysia of their total population, he pointed out.

It is not as though Indonesia has employed millions of foreign workers, Jokowi pointed out.

"Be careful (of fake news). I want a clarification to be tendered for news triggering public unrest," he stated.

Furthermore, the president has put forth an appeal to his loyalists, volunteers, and cadres to set right other misinformation or false news, including those claiming him to be an ex-member of banned Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) as well those on him banning azan, or prayer call, scrapping the mandatory religious subject in school, and permitting same-sex marriages if he were to be re-elected as president.

During that time, the president also announced card programs, specifically the smart Indonesia card (KIP) for students from poor families to take up studies in universities, pre-employment card for jobless school graduates, and card for poor families to purchase essential items at reasonable prices.

Jokowi, pairing with Ma'ruf Amin in the April 2019 presidential election, admitted to also carrying forward his program to hand out land certificates in case he was to be again elected for a second term in office.

"In 2017, we had issued nearly 5.1 million land certificates throughout Indonesia, with the figure increasing to 9.4 million in 2018. The program aims to ensure that the people possess legal rights to their land to ensure a peaceful and tranquil existence," he stated.

The president confirmed that 80 million plots of land in Indonesia were not certified. The president is upbeat that certification of the plots of land will be completed by 2025.
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Translator: Agus Salim, Suharto
Editor: Azizah Fitriyanti
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