REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Neno Warisman, an activist of the #2019GantiPresiden (#2019ChangePresident) movement, joined the Prabowo Subianto-Sandiaga Uno pair's success team to help them win next year's presidential election. She was appointed to be the deputy chairperson of the pair's success team at a meeting attended by Prabowo Subianto and representatives of his coalition parties here on Tuesday evening.
Speaking to journalists here on Wednesday, the National Mandate Party (PAN) chairman, Yandri Susanto, said Neno also attended the meeting and confirmed her readiness for struggling side by side with other success team's members for Prabowo's victory.
"Neno Warisman has accepted the decision and conveyed that she wholeheartedly joined the success team," Yandri said adding that the deputy chairmanship position was given to her based on the agreement made during the meeting.
He said, from the beginning, Chief Patron of the Great Indonesia Movement (Gerindra) Prabowo Subianto has actually requested Neno's readiness for joining his success team. "Thus, this is a kind of Prabowo and Neno's agreement. Prabowo hopes that Neno will be able to give the success team members new energy. She has conveyed her readiness for doing her best to struggle for Prabowo's victory," he said.
Prabowo Subianto-Sandiaga Uno is challenged by incumbent President Joko Widodo, commonly known as Jokowi, and his running mate, KH Ma'ruf Amin, in the 2019 presidential election. Jokowi has gained massive support for his reelection bid but there are groups that endorse the #2019GantiPresiden (#2019ChangePresident) movement in different parts of the country, such as Medan (North Sumatra), Batam (Riau Islands), and Pekanbaru (Riau).
Neno is one of the key and leading figures behind the movement. However, persecutions against Neno, and other key figures and those supporting the #2019ChangePresident movement have frequently occurred in certain parts of the country.
One of the incidents that has attracted the attention of print, electronic, and online media across Indonesia happened in Pekanbaru, the capital city of Riau Province. Neno recently failed to join those wanting to declare the movement in Pekanbaru, Riau Province, after being forced by the local security apparatus to return to Jakarta.
Before being forced to get back to Jakarta by a commercial aircraft, Neno said she kept staying inside a sedan that would transport her to Pekanbaru city for at least six hours. The car could not get out of the Sultan Syarif Kasim International Airport after the gate of the airport complex area was blocked by the opponents of the #2019ChangePresident movement that staged a noisy rally under the local police's tight security.
In response to this situation, Prabowo condemned the acts of letting the persecutions against those supporting the movement who want to exercise their rights to freedom of expression.
"Democracy demands freedoms of expression, associate, and assembly," he told participants of a seminar, organized for reviewing his book titled "The Paradox of Indonesia, Prabowo Subianto's Strategic Perspectives: Rich Country, But Many of Its People Remain Poor" here recently.
The people's fundamental rights are guaranteed by the state`s constitution and democracy, Prabowo said.
However, President Jokowi defended the police's acts of securing the law and order in dealing with the people's rights to freedom of association and expression, arguing that they should be exercised in accordance with regulations.
"In a democratic state, there are the rights to freedom of assembly, expression, and association, but, once again, they are exercised in accordance with regulations. Do not break security and social order," he said in an occasion held in Jakarta recently.
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