TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Gibran shrugs off Bawaslu probe
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
Vice presidential candidate Gibran Rakabuming Raka (center) talks to the press on Jan. 3, 2024, after undergoing questioning with the Central Jakarta office of the Election Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu). The agency is seeking clarification from the Surakarta mayor regarding his suspected campaign activities during a Car Free Day in Jakarta on Dec. 3, 2023. (Antara/Galih Pradipta)
Vice presidential candidate Gibran Rakabuming Raka answered on Wednesday a summons from the Central Jakarta branch of the Elections Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) to defend himself against an alleged campaign violation in Jakarta last month.
The summons has come at a time when the election watchdog faces accusations of skirting conflict with the First Family, on top of other similar reports lodged against it for refusing to fulfill its duties.
Bawaslu questioned Gibran, who is President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s eldest son and the running mate to presidential frontrunner Prabowo Subianto, on Wednesday about an alleged campaign violation he committed when he distributed free milk to children during a Car Free Day event in Jakarta on Dec. 3.
A 2016 Jakarta gubernatorial regulation bars "events for the interests of political parties" at Car Free Day events, and the 2017 General Elections Law also bans election participants from involving children in their campaigns.
Gibran had previously denied that giving out milk to children constituted campaigning, saying that he was not in possession of any campaign imagery or materials at the event and did not ask the people he encountered there to vote for him.
He reiterated his arguments to reporters following a one-hour questioning on Wednesday by the poll supervisor.
“We have explained [during the questioning session] that there was no [campaigning] by political parties during our Dec. 3 Jakarta Car Free Day activity," Gibran said, as quoted by kompas.com.
