IO, Jakarta – The Declaration for a Peaceful 2019 Presidential Election Campaigning event went smoothly. The event started in the National Monument (Monas) on Sunday (23/9/2018) at 07.00 WIB and secured the commitment of election participants to campaign peacefully, safely, and pleasantly. The theme chosen for the event was “Anti-SARA (ethnic, religion, race, group) and anti-Hoax to make an independent electorate for a strong nation”.
The declaration itself was attended by leaders and administers from political parties on the national level, number 1 presidential and vice-presidential candidates Joko Widodo-Ma’ruf Amin and number 2 candidates Prabowo Subianto-Sandiaga Salahuddin Uno, alongside Regional Representative Council (DPD) candidates for Jakarta.
The declaration was opened with a long march down Jalan Merdeka Utara, from West Merdeka to the South Merdeka region. Participants wore regional traditional clothes and socialized with the public who were mostly enjoying the weekend on a car-free day.
Jokowi wore traditional Balinese attire with a black shirt and pants, a traditional Balinese headband (udeng), and an orange cloth belt. Meanwhile, Prabowo wore plain brown traditional Javanese clothes (surjan) with a black Javanese headdress (blangkon).
Sandiaga chose to wear traditional Malay clothing matching colors with Prabowo. He also wore a traditional black felt headdress (kopiah). Ma’ruf Amin wore his usual clothing, a grey suit with a white scarf around his neck.
After the parade, participants and their supporters gathered in Monas to read the Declaration for a Peaceful 2019 Presidential Election Campaigning Text, led by General Election Commission (KPU) Chairman Arief Budiman, together with the Elections Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) Chairman Abhan. The presidential, vice-presidential and DPD candidates then signed the declaration which was followed by the releasing of balloons and doves.
In his opening speech, Arief stated that the peaceful campaigning declaration was intended to strengthen the commitment of the election participants to protect the integrity of the Republic of Indonesia, based on Pancasila and the 1945 Constitution. “Let us have a campaign that is peaceful, democratic, educates the electorate and socializes the 2019 election participants,” said Arief.
The event was also attended by high-ranking National Police officers, such as the National Police Chief, Deputy Chief, Mobile Brigade Corps Commander, and Police Public Relations Division Head, who was represented by the Head of the Public Information Bureau, Head of Medical and Health Center, Head of the Division of The Police’s Profession and Internal Security and the Metro Jaya Departmental Police Chief. (Raihan)