The Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) called on the General Elections Commission (KPU), Elections Supervisory Body (Bawaslu), and Election Organization Ethics Council (DKPP) to maintain impartiality and professionalism during the general elections.

"Fairness and justice are so important for the next phases of these parliamentary and presidential elections as mandated by the Constitution," Head of MUI's Advisory Council Din Syamsudin told a press conference following a meeting in Jakarta on Friday evening.

The council's executive board and advisory council members met to respond to Indonesia's political dynamics during the post-election situation.

Din Syamsudin said the attendees of the meeting agreed on seven recommendations for the KPU, Bawaslu, and DKPP so that they convened the general elections in accordance with the mandate of the State's Constitution.

The parliamentary and presidential elections should be held directly, freely, secretly, fairly, and honestly in which the following steps must also be carried out by strictly upholding the principles of impartiality, transparency, honesty, and justice, he said.

Regarding this fiesta of democracy, the Jakarta campaign team of Prabowo Subianto (BPP DKI) will report the KPU and the East Jakarta KPU office to the DKPP for a mistake in the ballot entry process during the ballot counting result C1 Form at Polling Station (TPS) No 93 located in Bidara Cina, Jatinegara Sub-district, East Jakarta.

The mistake in the ballot entry was not normal and it was obviously a deliberate attempt to reduce the number of votes cast for presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto, Muhamad Taufik, chairman of the BPP DKI, said.

"Based on data from the scanned C1 Form, the Jokowi-Ma'ruf pair received 47 votes, while the Prabowo-Sandiaga pair got 162. But based on data from the ballot entry conducted by KPU, the votes for the Jokowi-Ma'ruf jumped to 180, and for Prabowo-Sandiaga reduced to 56. This is an election violation. We will report it to the DKPP and the police," Taufik said in a press statement.

The ballot entry has put Prabowo Subianto and Sandiaga Uno at a disadvantage, while KPU should have been neutral, and not partial, according to him. (ANTARA)

The Japanese Consul General in Surabaya is upbeat of Indonesia-Japan relations growing from strength to strength, particularly in the cultural field, including through holding the Japanese Culture Festival at Universitas Brawijaya (UB), Malang, East Java.

Japanese Consul General in Surabaya Masaki Tani remarked in Malang City, Saturday, that the festival, titled Ishshoni Tanoshimimashou, held on April 20-21, 2019, at the UB Faculty of Cultural Sciences, was a regular feature for the last 14 years to strengthen relations between both nations.

"We and the Japanese community are optimistic that holding such activities can increase and expand our knowledge of Japanese culture," Tani stated.

The Japanese Culture Festival event was organized in front of UB's A FIB Building. The area has a replica of the Tori'i, or a typical Japanese gate, installed in each temple in the country.

Tani opined that culture holds diverse meanings and transcends the mere art of folding or origami and others. Nonetheless, Tani noted that especially for the Japanese, culture is about a value, thought, behavior, and their life.

Along with the showcasing of Tori'i replicas and Japanese-nuanced areas, a competition was held in which the attendees comprised students, including from several other regions outside Malang City.

"By delving into Japanese culture and language, I am truly optimistic that the people would be more open to the thoughts or views of Japanese people. This translates to a more comprehensive understanding of Japanese culture in its entirety," Tani stated.

Moreover, participants and students are allowed to attend the festival in typical Japanese attire.

Temple Culture Festival Chairperson Fakhri Faishol remarked that some 500 people from different regions in Indonesia, including Jakarta, Central Java, and also Sumatra, among others, took part in the event.

"The competition is divided into academic and non-academic," said Candi.

The Japanese Culture Festival featured Japanese or manga comic drawing competitions, Japanese writing or kanji writing competitions, Japanese or benron speeches, Japanese calligraphy or shodou, and storytelling or my story , among others. (ANTARA)

Organization of Asia-Pacific News Agencies (OANA) president highlighted fake news as a serious issue currently, as it largely impacts news agencies, but OANA member agencies exult in a long-standing history and experience, some almost century-old.

"Hence, until the time news agencies and the principles of journalism are existent, the society can feel safe, as despite fake news being rampant, we are able to fight back with accurate and reliable news," OANA President Aslan Aslanov stated during the 44th Executive Board Meeting of OANA in Hanoi, Friday.

Aslanov believes the high level of trust laid on OANA news agencies is owing to the firm and steady adherence to the principles of identification and fact-checking of news prior to them being published.

"Hence, OANA is truly a team of the most reliable news producers," he affirmed.

Furthermore, Aslanov drew focus to the rising dependence of news agencies on technology and the necessity to apply the latest innovations to win an audience and maintaining efficient flow of information among partner media organizations.

In the meantime, Vietnam News Agency Deputy General Director Le Quoc Minh called on the need to revert to the core values of journalism and professionalism in order to get back the audience’s trust in mainstream news.

Minh highlighted the need for journalists to conduct careful verification of information, particularly in the face of rampant circulation of fake news, enhancing the quality of their products, boosting work ethics, and honing skills to employ novel technologies in the work process.

Lee Dong-min from the Yonhap News of the Republic of Korea pointed out that fake news had become a major issue in her country.

In a bid to tackle fake news, Yonhap News had established a fact-checking team in March 2018, primarily tasked with choosing three or four news weekly and conducting comprehensive fact-checking, particularly in case of statements made by influential people.

Dong-min believes fake news tend to become viral on social media partly owing to the lack of a reputed institution or media for verifying the information.

Hence, taking responsibility as a member of the media, news agencies should look for solutions to ensure timely flagging, checking, evaluation, and rectification of false news, she stated.

Kyodo News of Japan noted in its country report that to authenticate information being circulated on the web and tweaking for news coverage, the “D-Watch team” was set up in 2012 to monitor various websites and social media and update the News Centre on it.

Moreover, the D-Watch team conducts close monitoring of information on websites and social media in the face of a major accident or a serious natural calamity.

Kyodo News noted that in addition to monitoring information on websites and social media, the D-Watch team is currently applying an AI-assisted system termed “FASTALERT” for accruing information published by witnesses on social media.

In his address at the opening ceremony, Vietnam's Deputy Prime Minister, Vu Duc Dam, remarked that in recent years, on account of several forms of communication enabled by modern technologies in addition to swift and extensive circulation of faked news, OANA has served as a direct channel to furnish information to news organizations and partners to check facts to aid in boosting the public's trust in mainstream media.

OANA was established in Bangkok, Thailand, on December 22, 1961, as an initiative of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).

Currently, OANA brings together 44 news agencies from 35 countries, including ANTARA News Agency. OANA members are accountable for the circulation of two-thirds of the information worldwide.

The organization holds its triennial general assembly for the selection of an Executive Board, with 13 member news agencies. (ANTARA)

Lecturer at Faculty of Social and Political Sciences (FISIP) Jenderal Sudirman University Purwokerto Ahmad Sabiq called to further streamline the management of simultaneous elections to prevent recurrence of incidents as in the 2019 election.

"There is a pressing need to improve the management side of the election. What is achievable is how the voting process facilitates voters and does not make it tough for the organizers," according to the lecturer in the Political Party and Electoral System theory course in Purwokerto, Banyumas District, Central Java, Saturday.

In a conversation with ANTARA, he recalled the several polling group organizers (KPPS) officers who tailed away as the organizers of the voting on Apr 17.

Sabiq opined that "advance voting" was one of the voting processes that facilitates voters and simplified tasks for organizers.

He elaborated that in "advance voting," the voters could sign up to vote on the previous day, especially for people facing technical obstacles to exercise their voting rights on the "D" day of voting.

"This 'advance voting' will protect the rights of voters and reduce the buildup of voters on the 'D' day of voting," he remarked.

In addition to "advance voting," Sabiq said he could opt for "electronic voting," or voting by utilizing information technology.

He believes "electronic voting" will facilitate the calculation process and save time and energy as well as increase the efficiency of the process.

Sabiq highlighted the need for making preparations for offering the alternatives, especially "electronic voting," while organizing simultaneous elections and their stage-wise implementation to prevent a relapse of events that had occurred during the 2019 election.

Clarifying matters pertaining to the simultaneous 2024 election being possibly organized in two or three stages, Sabiq called on the need for a comprehensive study owing to problems relating merely to technical implementation arising in the 2019 election.

The 2019 election was organized on Apr 17 for the election of the president and vice president as well as the members of the Indonesian Parliament, the Regional Representative Council (DPD RI), provincial and district/city parliament.

The simultaneous election in 2024 will be held to not only elect the president and vice president along with members of the parliament, but also to choose governors and deputy governors and district heads/mayors and deputy district heads/deputy mayor. (ANTARA)