“There was no schedule for him to visit the area. So we instructed him to stop his activity. Several campaign team members around him resisted instead. It would have been OK if he had a permit,” said a Panwaslu officer who identified himself only as Tomi.  

He further said that Panwaslu Cakung received information about Ahok’s visit from the Cakung Police. “We will report his activity to the Panwaslu headquarters. We will investigate the finding,” said Tomi.

(Read also: Major celebrations to end Jakarta election campaign period)

Ahok’s campaign team claimed that the governor was in Kalimalang not to campaign but to visit residents, despite the fact that he and his entourage wore campaign attributes, such as plaid shirts, and distributed notebooks with pictures of Ahok and his running mate, Djarot Saiful Hidayat, on the cover.

It is not the first time that Ahok has been accused of unauthorized campaigning, with Panwaslu officers in North Jakarta and South Jakarta previously accusing him of similar infractions. In responding to the complaints, Ahok insisted he had not campaigned on the occasions as he had not ask people to vote for him.

He argued that he was working as usual as a non-active governor to listen to people’s aspirations and complaints about problems in the city. He promised to solve the problems once his campaign leave was over and he returned to work on Feb.12. (ebf)

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