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PKS backs legislator in cookie campaign controversy

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The country's biggest Islamic party has come out in defense of a legislator accused of exploiting the flooding in Jakarta to get a head start on campaigning for the legislative election in April.

Hidayat Nur Wahid, a former president of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), said on Tuesday that Wirianingsih, a PKS member of the House of Representatives, knew nothing about food aid delivered to flood victims in Jakarta that carried stickers of her face.

"We have to track down who really did this," Hidayat said at the House complex as quoted by the Indonesian newspaper Kompas. "She can't be held accountable because she doesn't know about it."

Wirianingsih has been widely lambasted on social media for the stunt, in which packs of cookies distributed for free by the Health Ministry were slapped with stickers bearing her face and a message that Wirianingsih, described as "a legislative candidate from the Jakarta constituency" and "intelligent, friendly, caring," had "fought and struggled" to get the food to those affected by the floods.

Hidayat did not deny that the cookies had come from the Health Ministry, but insisted that they would never have been able to reach the intended recipients without Wirianingsih's role. The legislator serves on House Commission IX, which oversees health and welfare issues.

Wirianingsih herself has denied any knowledge of the stickers, saying that even if someone from her campaign team was responsible, it was not that big an issue. "I didn't know and didn't expect [it]," she told Kompas. "Maybe my friends on the site have good intentions."

Tifatul Sembiring, the communications minister and also a former PKS president, said that while exploiting the flooding for political purposes was unethical, it was "not a big sin." "There's no need to kick up a fuss," he added as quoted by Kompas.

The public, however, has seen plenty of reason for kicking up a fuss, with social media users taking to Twitter to inveigh against Wirianingsih.

"How dare you exploit this disaster for political means?" wrote user @yudhawiranata, adding, "If the aid really was from you that would be alright, but this is from the Health Ministry and @wirianingsih is claiming to have 'struggled' for it."

Another user, @OrissaSofyan, wrote: "Wow, this candidate from the PKS... There really was no need for this. Shame on you @wirianingsih."

Others, such as @doggerice, took issue with the party in general for not living up to its pious rhetoric: "This conduct [shows that] the candidate @wirianingsih from the pious party doesn't understand sincerity."

This is not the first time Wirianingsih, a mother of 10, has courted controversy. In July last year she was widely criticized for declaring that people living with HIV/AIDS did not deserve the free anti-retroviral medication provided by the government because they needed to be punished for "leading unhealthy lifestyles."

She later backtracked on the statement, made during a House hearing with Health Ministry officials, claiming it was taken out of context.