Jokowi’s representative Widodo Sigit, the legal bureau head at the Home Ministry, told the Constitutional Court on Monday that Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama’s request to revise the absence rule of the Regional Elections Law was unethical.

Sigit said regional heads during their inauguration had promised to comply with the constitution.

“It is unethical if the petitioner [Ahok] attempts to change the law to maintain his power without coordinating the matter with the central government,” he said.

Sigit reminded the court that Ahok at one time demanded the regulation’s implementation during the 2012 gubernatorial election.

“We see the consistency of our leaders from their words and then judge whether he or she is fit to become our role model,” he said.

He said Ahok once urged then incumbent governor Fauzi Bowo to take leave in order to create an honest and fair election. “I am wondering why the incumbent now changes his mind. I hope he will rethink his decision,” he said.

He also said that Ahok did not need to worry about the city administration being leaderless without him as the law allows for an acting governor.

Ahok previously stated to the court that Article 70, paragraph 3 of the law deprived him of his constitutional rights by forcing him to take leave, claiming that many people could take advantage of his absence from the governorship.

The article stipulates that incumbents must take unpaid leave and are prohibited from using facilities provided by their position in their campaign for reelection.

Ahok wanted taking leave to become an optional choice for incumbents. He said he did not want to take leave as he did not want to take part in his campaign.

Sigit pointed out that there was a difference in taking leave by a civil servant as opposed to a public official. “Taking leave [as a requirement] is a mechanism to level the playing field between incumbents and other candidates as the incumbent might abuse their position for their own advantage in an election,” he said.

He gave the example that an incumbent could use administration’s programs to hold a covert campaign.

A similar argument was also made by two House members.

Arteria Dahlan, a member of House commission II overseeing home affairs, said the leave requirement for an incumbent was an obligation, not a right.

“As campaigning is an obligation, taking leave is also obligatory in order to prevent [incumbents] abusing their power,” he said.

He said the president, vice president, and house of representative members or any other elected positions were obliged to conduct an election campaign, if seeking reelection.

“While campaigning, they are not allowed to use any [of their position’s] facilities unless for security reasons and are also obliged to take leave,” he said.

Arteria of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) said campaigning was a norm of any election in the world. “Even [US President Barrack] Obama who may be as famous as Pak Ahok also campaigns,” he teased.

Speaking after the trial, Ahok said he still was optimistic with his proposal. “We will wait for the court to decide,” he said.

Ahok also corrected his statement, saying that he only objected the length of the unpaid leave period, which is four months.

Separately, constitutional law expert Yusril Ihza Mahendra, who also has interest in running in next year’s gubernatorial election, said taking leave was important for election fairness for Ahok and other candidate hopefuls.

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