Heaptalk, Jakarta — The East Kutai Regency Government held a declaration of peace for the concurrent village heads’ election (Pilkades) 2022 at the Bukit Pelangi helipad field (11/04). Embarking on interfaith prayer, all 244 village head candidates from 77 villages stated the peace declaration for the concurrent elections.
Regent Ardiansyah Sulaiman and Vice Regent Kasmidi Bulang also attended the occasion. Regent Ardiansyah hoped that the momentum can be a reminder to create safe and conducive conditions, particularly in the implementation of the village head election which will be held concurrently in 77 villages in East Kutai. “We have to respect each other. Winning and losing is normal,” said Ardiansyah.
Likewise, Vice Regent Kasmidi also expected that the democratic party can help increase unity and integrity among citizens. Whatever the result should be accepted by all parties with relief.
“As if the brave knights, whatever the election results will be, we are all obliged to accept it as we stated during the declaration of peace earlier,” voiced Kasmidi.
Head of the East Kutai Community and Village Empowerment Agency (DPMPDes), Yuriansyah conveyed that previously the election participants had gone through the stages of determining and revoking candidate serial numbers.
“Villages with more than five candidates have made additional selections which are then determined by the village-level committee,” said Yuriansyah.
The organizing committee of the peace declaration presented a famous speaker, namely Das’ad Latif from South Sulawesi. Das’ad urges the community, particularly the candidates for village heads, to follow the leadership traits of the Prophet Muhammad and avoid dirty practices during the election.
“There is no point in winning the elections if the community is divided. One of the blessings that we have to be grateful for at this time in East Kutai is that people can live in peace,” said Das’ad in his closing statement.
