Cabinet Secretary: President Knows the Fact of the Misuse of his Name

Secretary Pramono Anung answered reporters’ questions on Tuesday (17/11) afternoon, at the Presidential Office, Jakarta

Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung explained that President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has read and listened to a transcript of a recorded conversation between the House of Representatives (DPR)’s high-ranking official and PT Freeport Indonesia counterpart regarding the mining contract (kontrak karya) renewal, which lately boasted to misuse the names of President Jokowi and Vice President Jusuf Kalla.

“The President has read and listened (the recorded conversation). I also listened to it. President Jokowi knew the facts of the case and also the details. I knew about it long time ago but I did not say anything,” Pramono Anung said to the reporters at the Presidential Palace area, Jakarta, on Tuesday (17/11) afternoon.

Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung reminded anyone who misuse the name of the President to be careful. “Anyone should not use the symbol of the country for those kinds of action,” Pramono said.

According to Pramono, President Jokowi wants to affirm that he is completely unaffected by this uproar.

He added, the President wants to solve the matter of contract renewal or the discussion regarding kontrak karya, including the discussion with Freeport.

When Pramono was asked whether he believes that the recorded conversation is real or not, Pramono answered, “It does not make sense to play the recorded conversation to us”.

Asked about the effort to prevent the misuse, Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung said that the kontrak karya, contract renewal and regulation are now open to the public.

The President, Pramono added, intended to make all laws and regulations free from human interaction.

“If it is needed, there would be no documents, signing process and so on anymore. The whole process will be computerized, including the taxation process and the process at the Coordinating Investment Board (BKPM). That’s what the President wants,” Pramono said while mentioning that he wonder how could a person in this open world perform dirty play by misusing the names that should be the symbol of our country. “It is extremely inappropriate,” he said. (SM/UN/RAH) (RAS/MMB/YM/Naster)