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UGM petition protests Jokowi administration’s ‘deviations’ from democracy
"We are talking on a family level. The person concerned is our family member. We’re reminding [the President] with loving language, like when you are talking to your family," said the petition's initiator.
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President Joko “Jokowi“ Widodo (left), accompanied by (from left) Army chief of staff Gen. Maruli Simanjuntak, chairwoman of House of Representatives Commission I overseeing defense Meutya Hafid and Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto, attends a press conference after a handover of aircraft from the government to the Indonesian Military (TNI) at Halim Perdanakusuma Air Force Base in Jakarta on Jan. 24, 2024. (Antara/Galih Pradipta)
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he Gadjah Mada University (UGM) academic community issued a petition on Wednesday accusing President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo of “deviating” from democratic values and urging the administration and other authorities to remedy the situation.
The Bulaksumur Petition, as it was called, was read out by Prof. Koentjoro of UGM at the university’s Balairung Hall in Yogyakarta and had been signed by professors, lecturers, students and alumni of the university.
Bulaksumur is the name of the neighborhood in Depok district, Sleman regency, Yogyakarta, where the UGM campus is located.
The petition expresses the UGM academic community’s concerns about actions by some state administrators that it says have deviated from the moral principles of democracy, popular sovereignty and social justice.
"We regret the deviations that have occurred during President Joko Widodo’s administration, who is also part of Gadjah Mada University’s extended family," said Koentjoro, as quoted by tempo.co.
Jokowi graduated from UGM’s Faculty of Forestry in 1985.
The petition lists actions it says showcase deviations from and indifference to democratic principles, including recent ethical violations at the Constitutional Court, the involvement of law enforcement officials in aspects of representative democracy and Jokowi's contradictory statements regarding the involvement of public officials in political campaigns.
