Anies-Sandi Should Apologize for False Campaign Promise: Lawyer
Jakarta. A lawyers' group has demanded that gubernatorial candidate pair Anies Baswedan and Sandiaga Uno publicly apologize for allegedly making a false promise during their campaign.
The candidate pair promised that if elected, they would implement a home-ownership program that would allow Jakarta residents to purchase houses without down payments.
However, the such a program would transgress central bank regulations.
"The program does not only contain lies, but the content is clearly against Bank Indonesia's regulations. It is a clear disappointment to the public, especially Jakarta residents, who have been promised a zero-down-payment [scheme]," Petrus Selestinus, coordinator of the Team of Defenders of the Indonesian Democracy (TPDI), said in Jakarta on Saturday (18/02).
He demanded that the campaign team and its supporting political parties, the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) and the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), issue a public apology.
In terms of existing regulations, only the central bank governor has the authority to determine down-payment amounts for home ownership credit, or KPR.
"So, whether the KPR has no down payment or has a certain down-payment amount; it is the authority of the BI governor, not the Jakarta governor, nor gubernatorial candidate pairs," Petrus said.
"This is a program that does not educate the public and it destroyed the political party's mission to provide political guidelines to the public," Petrus said. "It is also a campaign model that actually poisons the people, as it gave the public empty hope for something the regulations clearly do not allow."
The lawyer praised a move by Bank Indonesia Governor Agus Martowardojo to explain the regulation in an attempt to protect the public from the misleading information the candidates conveyed during the final gubernatorial debate before the election.
"This is a strong blow to Anies-Sandi, as such a campaign program is not educating and establishing a culture of legal compliance. Instead, it teaches their constituents to break the law. Anies-Sandi should retract their promise and apologize to public," Petrus said.
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