Denies the allegation of intolerance, this is the defense of the Director of SMAN 6 Depok on the re-election of the President of the Student Council. Page all

DEPOK, KOMPAS.com – SMAN 6 Depok has denied allegations of bigotry and the use of religious sentiments behind the controversy over the election of the student council president that went viral on social media.

In the controversy that spread on social networks, some people accused that the election of the president of OSIS SMAN 6 Depok was finally repeated because the winner was not Muslim.

“I make sure it’s not that, it’s a problem, it’s usually used by certain people who are uncomfortable. I make sure I don’t go that way,” Abdul Fatah, head of SMAN 6 Depok, told Kompas.com, on Thursday (11/12) / 2020).

“Do not let yourself go there, that is very bad. It also surprises us, how it can come to that. This morning too, take it easy, no problem,” he explained.

Also read: The principal denies the problem of intolerance in the election of the president of the student council in SMAN 6 Depok

E, the candidate who won the election for president of OSIS SMAN 6 Depok finally resigned officially when it was decided to repeat the election.

In his confession on his Instagram account, E mentioned the decision he made because “there are principles that are not suitable for re-election.”

Kompas.com spoke to Wati, the Chief of the Student Council President’s Events Section at SMAN 6 Depok, to ask the school for an explanation.

According to the school principal, Wati put aside the religious sentiment behind the re-election, as circulated on social media.

“The screenshot is related to religious teachers. It is a personal WhatsApp cut between teachers and religious students, between children and children, but it does not discuss the issue of elections. So the problem with discussing their point of view is to discuss themselves on WhatsApp and then take the name of the religious teacher, “Wati told Kompas.com.

“The context is not an election, but a discussion of the issue of choosing a leader from the point of view of Islamic religious issues, and that was cut. We have clarified it with the religious teacher and the child that WhatsApp has also asked us for a clarification, “he continued.

The school said there was a bug in the online system.

Wati said that the system of election of the president of the student council that has been implemented so far is carried out directly.

This year, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the elections are taking place entirely online.

Also read: Waiting for sanctions for SMAN 58 East Jakarta teachers for acting race …

Schools make use of applications made by students participating in extracurricular information technology to vote.

Wati said there were several issues before Election Day on Tuesday (10/11/2020), because the app had not been tested.

“We asked a week before to be validated and look for possible leaks or weaknesses and so on, but the children only gave the request to the operator of the D-1 school,” he said.

“We were finally forced to use the app on Election Day at 1:00 pm. It was after 1:00 pm, the username and password were not shared. Due to the Student Council students panicking, immediately they shared their username and password openly. So everyone knows the username and passwords of other people, including teachers, “he explained.

When it is used, many users cannot enter the application. Wati said there were about 250 voters whose voting rights were not accommodated due to this system bug.

Several attempts were made changing the username and password. Some worked, some didn’t.

Then, Wati continued, a teacher admitted that she was unable to enter the app even though she had switched devices 3 times.

“However, when I asked the administrator, the children were running the server, so we had no control, the teacher’s data had already been recorded and they had already voted,” he said.

“That is where we saw weaknesses in this system. So in the end we decided to report to the principal, then a special meeting with the deputy principal of the school,” Wati continued.

The results of the meeting, taking into account the principles of fairness, honesty and confidentiality, it was decided that the election should be repeated offline and limited to schools with a quota system.

“So we can control the amount of incoming votes and voter data. So we don’t have any SARA elements at all. We just want to improve the system, we just want to get the valid ones,” Wati said.

The school also invited 3 candidates who competed in the election for the student council president, including E, who eventually resigned.

Wati claimed that not a single candidate rejected the decision, although E is said to have shared his disappointment.

Kompas.com tried to confirm and interview E directly, but until this article was written there had been no response.

“Finally, this morning, at 6:45 am, the candidate who resigned was with his parents,” Wati concluded.