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Why was inauguration of Hasyim Asy’ari Grand Mosque moved up a day?
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All ready: Acting Jakarta governor Sumarsono (center), accompanied by Jakarta Police chief Insp.Gen. M. Iriawan (right) and Jakarta Military Command commander Maj.Gen. Jaswandi (left), explains the Jakarta administration’s readiness to hold the April 19 runoff election in a press conference on April 13. (Antara/Widodo S. Jusuf)
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cting Jakarta governor Sumarsono said it was the Presidential Office that had requested the inauguration of Hasyim Asy’ari Grand Mosque in Daan Mogot, West Jakarta be held on Saturday, one day earlier than its initially scheduled inauguration date.
The inauguration had to be moved up a day because of conflicting events on the President’s schedule, he said.
“The President has another event tomorrow [Sunday]. He will be quite busy. Instead of delaying it too long, we thought it would be better to inaugurate it today. We were all available today and ready [for the inauguration],” said Sumarsono as quoted by kompas.com on the sidelines of the inauguration on Saturday morning.
(Read also: Jokowi to inaugurate Jakarta grand mosque)
The change in the inauguration’s date was sudden and not expected, raising speculation over the reason behind date change.
Sumarsono denied the inauguration was moved up for political reasons. Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama is set to return to his position on Saturday afternoon after going on campaign leave. If the mosque was inaugurated on Sunday, Ahok and Djarot would have attended the ceremony, accompanying Jokowi.
“It [the inauguration] has nothing to do with the Jakarta election. What should we be afraid of?” said Sumarsono, who accompanied Jokowi together with Religious Affairs Minister Lukman Hakim Saifuddin. (mrc/ebf)
