Jakarta. Veteran lawyer Henry Yosodiningrat admitted on Monday that he had made unfounded claims that the National Police chief had instructed service members across the country to support presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto in the election.

Henry, a former House of Representatives member for the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), conceded that his allegations were based on information from conversations in the messaging app WhatsApp without first verifying their credibility.

The 69-year-old lawyer shocked the top brass of the National Police after a clip of his statement accusing Police Chief Listyo Sigit Prabowo of election interference went viral on the internet.

During a public discussion hosted by retired service members of the police and the military in Jakarta on Friday, Henry alleged that the police chief had instructed officers acting as community liaisons to work as vote-getters for “the candidate with ballot number 2” -- in an apparent reference to Prabowo.

He falsely claimed that the network of community liaison officers, locally abbreviated as Binmas, had been instructed to “utilize worship places to gather votes” and that every officer was “equipped with a brand new cellular phone with an international SIM card” for coordination.

"If this is a hoax, I invite the National Police chief to clarify," Henry said at that time.

The national police chief denied the allegations, and according to Henry, several provincial police chiefs also called him, disputing the credibility of his claims.

Speaking to reporters at the police HQ on Monday, Henry admitted that he should have contacted the police chief before publicly making the allegations but added that he wasn’t in possession of Listyo’s personal number.

"I already checked with the director of the community liaison and was told there was no such instruction from the police chief,” Henry clarified.

During his visit to the HQ, the lawyer was received by Commissioner General Fadil Imran, the head of the National Police’s Security Maintenance Agency (Baharkam), which oversees community liaison officers nationwide.

Henry said he took the initiative to meet Fadil following controversies on social media platforms over his claims and was informed in person that the police chief had never issued a directive to work in favor of any presidential candidate.

Henry has publicly announced that he is a supporter of PDI-P’s presidential nominee Ganjar Pranowo.
 

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