In his Christmas remarks on Saturday, Prabowo denied that he wanted to pardon graft convicts, saying he simply wanted them to “repent” and return the money they stole as part of their atonement.

“Some have said that Prabowo wants to pardon graft criminals, but that’s not the case. What if the convicts have already repented?” he said in front of religious figures and an audience of thousands at the national Christmas celebration at the Gelora Bung Karno (GBK) Sports Complex in Jakarta.

“I want to make them aware [of their wrongdoing]. Those who have sinned, just repent. That is what religion teaches us,” the President added. “It’s not that I will pardon them.”

At an event in Cairo on Dec. 18 before an audience of Indonesian university students, Prabowo had said that he might pardon people convicted of graft if they returned what they stole. At the time, he gave no further details on the idea.

His comments prompted criticism from the public and anticorruption watchdogs, with the latter saying the plan went against the Corruption Law, which states that returning the state’s financial losses does not absolve wrongdoers of their crimes.

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