Yusril takes the offer to be Jokowi-Ma'ruf attorney

REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Constitutional law expert Yusril Ihza Mahendra has officially appointed as the attorney for incumbent President Joko Widodo (Jokowi)-KH Ma'ruf Amin in the next year's election. However, the Crescent Star Party (PBB) general chairman said he did not join the team to win pair of presidential candidate number 01.

"As a professional lawyer, I am not part of Pak Jokowi-Pak Kiai Ma'ruf team in winning the electon," he said on Monday.

According to Yusril, Jokowi-Ma'ruf already have Legal and Defense Division in their team. As he stayed outside the structure of the team, Yusril reiterated that he was not an in-house lawyer.

Yusril said chief of National Campaign Team (TKN) of the Indonesian Working Coalition (KIK) Erick Thohir asked him a week ago. The former minister of justice and human rights took the offer as he thought the law must be enforced fairly for anyone without exception.

Yusril who defended Prabowo Subianto camp in 2014 presidential election lawsuit in the Constitutional Court claimed the service to Jokowi-Ma'ruf would be given for free. He asserted he took side to the law and justice and would defend his clients when there was violation of their rights.

Furthermore, Yusril would give advises and correct legal considerations to prevent his clients from taking bad decision.

Meanwhile, according to TKN KIK, Yusril would immediately handle cases faced by the government camp in the Election Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu). "He will handle cases related to violations of the presidential election," TKN KIK spokesperson Irma Suryani Chaniago in Jakarta on Monday (Nov 5).