JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com – The daughter of the 4th President of the Republic of Indonesia Abdurrahman Wahid alias Gus Dur, Yenny Wahid, advised the Chinese community not to support the presidential and vice presidential candidates (capres-cawapres) who were part of the government that previously banned Chinese New Year.
He conveyed this when accompanying presidential candidate number 3, Ganjar Pranowo, to celebrate Chinese New Year by eating with Chinese people at the Chinese Restaurant “Empurau” in Jakarta, Friday (9/2/2024).
On that occasion, Yenny had her own opportunity to give a speech after Ganjar.
Also read: Speaking Mandarin, Ganjar Pranowo Celebrates Chinese New Year at a Chinese Restaurant
He admitted that he did not want to ask the audience to vote for a particular candidate, but rather to pay attention to the track record of each pair of candidates (paslon).
“Are these candidate pairs people who are committed to maintaining diversity in Indonesia? If so, support them. But if there are candidate pairs whose background is actually being part of a government that previously banned Chinese New Year, then don’t support them,” said Yenny.
Ganjar-Mahfud, a member of the National Winning Team (TPN) Advisory Council, Ganjar-Mahfud then cited his father’s services in annulling Suharto’s policies so that people of Chinese descent could celebrate Chinese New Year again and have the freedom to express their culture.
Yenny reminded that canceling such a very influential policy would not be easy because Gus Dur was under a lot of political pressure.
He said that the moderate Islamic group he represents actually has a strong commitment to maintaining diversity in Indonesia.
However, Yenny believes that this commitment is not enough.
“I remind us all of this history to raise our awareness that a regulation must go through a political process and is not an easy thing to do. I also ask friends to come with all of us to protect it all,” he explained.
“The moderate Islamic group and I cannot take care of this alone, we need help, ladies and gentlemen. Especially, make the younger generation aware that we have regulations that guarantee diversity in Indonesia, diversity in Indonesia is respected, this is expensive, through a struggle “politics are long. Don’t take this for granted. We all have to protect it,” said Yenny.
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2024-02-09 16:09:00
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