President Joko Widodo Inaugurating the National Kris Museum, Surakarta, Central Java, August 9, 2017. (Photo: Twitter/@setkabgoid)
President Joko Widodo asserted that there is no dictatorship or authoritarianism in a constitutional state protected by constitution.
"There's no such thing as dictator or authoritarian. There will never be," said the president after inaugurating the National Kris Museum, Surakarta on Wednesday.
This was expressed by Jokowi to respond the criticism delivered to him recently.
Jokowi recalled the comments addressed to him in the early days of his governance where people once often called him "ndeso" (villager) and "klemar-klemer" (sluggish).
"People said the President is 'ndeso', the President is 'klemar-klemer', wimpy. Yet when we enforced the law [on the disbandment of mass organizations], they called me authoritarian, dictator. Which one is correct?" protested him.
Jokowi then stressed that Indonesia was a democratic constitutional state, stating that every institution had its own role that guarantee no dictatorship and authoritarian to exist.
"One is to control the government, anotherone is to oversee the work, while another one executes existing programs. We all have our own part, including the executive branch of government. There are also press, the media, non-governmental organizations and society. Everybody is watching [so there's no way for me to be a 'dictator']," he clarified.
(brl/red)
