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Muslim student group files police complaint against 'Dirty Vote'

The group also filed a report against the film's director, well-known investigative journalist Dandhy Laksono.

News Desk (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Wed, February 14, 2024

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Muslim student group files police complaint against 'Dirty Vote' A screen grab from the documentary “Dirty Vote.“ (The Jakarta Post/YouTube)
Indonesia Decides

A group identifying itself as the Indonesian Muslim Student Communication Forum (Foksi) has filed a complaint with the Jakarta Police against three legal reform and antigraft activists who starred in the documentary film Dirty Vote. In the film, the three activists claim that President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has used state resources to try to swing the Feb. 14 presidential election in favor of candidate Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto.

The group also filed a report against the film's director, well-known investigative journalist Dandhy Laksono.

Foksi, in its police report, claimed that the documentary film was a smear campaign aimed at tainting the reputation of one presidential ticket running in this year's election, a violation of the 2017 elections law.

"The film, which was released during the cooling-off period, was designed to create noise and hurt the reputation of one presidential candidate. This is against the election law," chairman of Foksi M. Natsir Sahib said in a statement published on Tuesday, referring to the three days of no campaigning before election day.

In the police report, Foksi also accused the three antigraft activists appearing in the film, Bivitri Susanti, Feri Amsari and Zainal Arifin Mochtar, of being connected to the campaign team of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle’s (PDI-P) presidential candidate Ganjar Pranowo and his running mate Mahfud MD.

The group alleged that the three antigraft activists once served as advisors for an antigraft team set up by Mahfud.

Responding to the allegations, Zainal said he had received many accusations since the premier of Dirty Vote, which has now racked up almost 10 million views on YouTube.

Zainal said he had received a wide range of accusations, from being a member of the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI), supporter of the PDI-P and of being a member of the Islamist Prosperous Justice Party (PKS).

"I believe the accusation of being a PKS member is directed more toward Feri [Amsari] because his goatee is longer than mine," Zainal said, quoted by Tempo.

Dirty Vote, which is free to watch on YouTube, asserts that Jokowi's administration has used state officials and funds to tilt the vote for Prabowo, among other allegations.

Jokowi has been accused by NGOs and legal experts of manipulating the eligibility requirements to install his eldest son as Prabowo's running mate, as well as increasing welfare handouts ahead of the vote in a tacit boost for the frontrunner, who has campaigned on continuing the President's policies.

The election frontrunner's team held a press conference shortly after its release on Sunday to deny the allegations.

"The majority of what was said in the movie was something slanderous, it's a hate narrative that is very assumptive and very unscientific," said Habiburokhman, deputy chair of Prabowo's campaign team.

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