When the phrase about “Room” is cut and gives rise to complaints of harassment between candidates on the Depok Pilkada page all

DEPOK, KOMPAS.com – The competition between candidates at the Depok Pilkada has started to heat up even though the registration stage has just ended.

Recently, the two candidates began to “clash” due to incidents of personal importance.

Depok’s deputy mayor candidate Afifah Alia felt verbally abused by her political opponent, Imam Budi Hartono.

Also Read: Depok Deputy Mayor Candidate Afifah Alia Admits She Was Verbally Abused By Her Opponent Imam Budi

The incident occurred when the two candidates underwent medical tests at Hasan Sadikin Hospital, Bandung, on Tuesday (9/8/2020).

“The Depok Pilkada candidate’s rooms are adjacent. When the hospital staff informed me of my room, Mr. Imam Budi suddenly said, ‘Just share a room with me, Ms. Afifah,'” Afifah said in a statement. written to Kompas.com, Thursday (9/10/2020) noon.

“There was Pak Idris (a couple of imams, a mayoral candidate from Depok) who listened and then laughed while pointing a finger at Pak Imam,” continued the PDI-P female cadre.

Afifah, who was paired with Gerindra Pradi Supriatna’s painting during Depok Pilkada, felt angry but chose to remain silent.

Because in that place, he said, there was no team to accompany them because the regulations required that each pair of candidates be unaccompanied.

The priest defended himself

Imam Budi Hartono spoke about allegations of verbal abuse that were leveled at him.

He tried to defend himself, saying that the sentence Afifah charged had been cut short.

“I don’t think I heard it or completely heard it. It could be that because he heard something unpleasant in it, eventually the next sentence was not heard,” Imam said when contacted. Kompas.com Thursday (10/9/2020) in the afternoon.

“There is a problem with the room division. I joke (the staff) about the room division, ‘In your own room you can’t be alone, huh?'”

“(The staff replied) ‘yes sir’. I replied, ‘If both of them answered, I could share a room with Afifah, my grandson.’ That’s the phrase ‘my grandson’ that doesn’t sound the same as Afifah,” Imam said .

Also read: Deputy candidate Walkot Depok Afifah Alia feels harassed, Imam Budi feels innocent

The PKS cadre argued that at the time it was also trying to break the ice.

The two candidates, according to Imam, were already joking around before the incident occurred.

“We are only two candidates. Our first meeting was there at RSHS. Yes, it is not good if you are rigid. I see. Well let’s break the ice, including the Bang Pradi joke, “he said.

“He (Pradi) called me ‘Abi’. He said, ‘Abi shouldn’t have to nominate. Me and Pak Wali (Idris) will definitely win,” he continued.

“I said, ‘Hey Bang, it’s good. If you run for Wali, I’ll run for Afifah.’ So there was a joke, it started with that.”

Also read: Imam Budi admits that he is joking when he makes a sentence that Afifah evaluates as harassment

Afifah herself did not close the possibility when the Imam was trying to make a joke. Still, according to him, such a joke should not escape the Imam’s mouth.

“If it is a joke, it is highly inappropriate for the joke to be made by a candidate for city leader. The joke involves indifference towards women, a joke that contains abuse,” Afifah admitted.

“What do you mean by ‘just share a room with me, Mrs Afifah’ when the layout of the isolation rooms is part of the candidate’s medical examination procedure?” he said.

Afifah wanted Imam to apologize

Afifah did not accept jokes about bullying and wanted Imam to apologize.

Furthermore, according to him, the problem of discrimination and sexual violence against women remains a latent problem in Depok City.

“What I want is an apology and a promise not to repeat harassment like this to me or other women in Depok City,” Afifah said.

Also read: Feeling verbal harassment, Afifah wants Imam Budi to apologize

More than that, the PDI-P politician who had “stalled” in the 2019 legislative elections admitted to being concerned because he made these harassing jokes by Imam, a fairly experienced politician.

“I am concerned, in my case it was carried out by a member of the West Java provincial DPRD for three terms, a candidate for deputy mayor. Courteous but harassing, harassing but polite,” Afifah said.

“From this statement, I am ready for all the consequences that will happen to me … Let us see women together in a position of equality … We must end harassment, both verbal, physical and psychological, even more so from of city officials. “Don’t look down on women anymore,” he added.

Regarding this apology, the Imam did not explicitly answer yes or no.

He stood firm in his own defense that the problem was caused by different versions of each sentence between him and Afifah, leading to different interpretations.

“If what Bu Afifah heard, it could be that. But as the speaker, I have the right to clarify the statement,” Imam said.

“If the problem is forgiveness, I am an easy person to forgive and apologize. The problem is that I do not feel guilty, due to an error of perception, because my sentence was cut off and it was not me who was wrong,” he concluded.