Tedjo Edhy Purdijatno
We’ve suspected before that Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs (Menkopolhukam) Tedjo Edhy Purdijatno does not have a PR team on stand by, considering how insensitive his comments have been to the public in the past. Well, this time he’s at it again, criticizing the people for the ongoing feud between the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) and the National Police.
In the first of a series of verbal blunders, Tedjo said the leaders of the KPK were “childish” for enlisting the help of the people to protest against the government and the National Police after the police arrested KPK Deputy Chief Bambang Widjojanto on Friday.
He then blamed the protesters and citizens for escalating the situation between the KPK and the National Police, given that President Joko Widodo has called for calm between the two institutions.
“[KPK leaders] shouldn’t fuel the people’s [anger] by rallying them against the [supposed] injustice. That is childish. [If they] stand alone, they are strong. They will be supported by the constitution. Not the support of the people that are ‘enggak jelas’ (unclear; a joke). Let the constitution support [the KPK],” Tedjo said on Saturday, as quoted by Kompas.
Needless to say, criticism of Tedjo’s verbal blunder soon started to pour in. The Commission of Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) Coordinator Haris Azhar even went as far as saying that Tedjo supported corruption.
“If he (Tedjo) says that [the people supporting KPK] is a joke then he is not pro-corruption eradication. I take that as a support for corruptors,” Haris said, as quoted by Republika yesterday.
Political analyst Hasan Nasbi Batupahat even questioned Tedjo’s credibility as a minister.
“Tedjo is strange. How can someone like that become minister? If Jokowi’s administration is any good, then [Tedjo] wouldn’t pass [as minister],” Hasan said, as quoted by Kompas yesterday.
“If Tedjo says the people are a joke, those same people voted for Jokowi. Did he want to say the people who voted for Jokowi are a joke? There’s something wrong here.”
And of course, there’s the criticism on social media. #Tedjo became a trending topic on Twitter, where netizens have come up with numerous gems like these:
