Indoleft | YLBHI says attack on their offices linked to Jokowi's call to 'clobber the PKI'

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YLBHI says attack on their offices linked to Jokowi's call to 'clobber the PKI'

Detik News - September 18, 2017

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Dwi Andayani, Jakarta – The Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI) and the Jakarta Legal Aid Foundation (LBH) believe there is a link between yesterday evening's attack on the their offices and President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo statement about "clobbering the PKI". The remark is seen as prone to misuse.

"What I want to convey is this, when Pak Jokowi said 'clobber' [gebuk], what happened was the public just heard the words 'clobber' [the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI)]", YLBHI advocacy head Muhammad Isnur told journalists at the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) offices on Monday September 18.

Isnur is calling on Widodo to be careful when he speaks because his statement legitimises people to misuse the word.

"So the president should be careful with [his] words, it could be used as a legitimisation by the public to misuse the word. It could happen to the media tomorrow", said Isnur.

"I think that Jokowi should look again at his sentence. He must look again at the impact of what was expressed when a president speaks like that", added Isnur.

Isnur does not know if yesterday evenings attack was politically motivated or not however he can confirm that the attackers used the word "clobber".

"But what I saw on the ground was that they the attackers used the same words as the president and used them in the wrong place and at the wrong target", said Isnur. (fjp/fjp)

Notes

Speaking before 1,500 TNI soldiers in Riau on May 19 Widodo said that the government will not stay silent in confronting movements that undermine the Constitution and the state ideology of Pancasila and this also applies to groups that follow communism. "Yes, we will clobber them, we will stamp them out, this is already clear. Don't question this again. Don't question this again. The legal umbrella is clear, the TAP MPRS", said Widodo referring to a 1966 decree banning the Indonesian Communist Party.].

[Translated by James Balowski for the Indoleft News Service. The original title of the article was LBH Kaitkan Pengepungan dengan Seruan Jokowi 'Gebuk PKI'.]

Source: https://news.detik.com/berita/3648052/lbh-kaitkan-pengepungan-dengan-seruan-jokowi-gebuk-pki.

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