Partyforumseasia: Only three days ago our post on dirty campaign tricks in the US, listed by http://www.oppositionnews.org, looked frightening enough. But the ongoing presidential campaign in Indonesia can obviously compete in wickedness and tastelessness.
A fake obituary has been published on Facebook and Twitter:
” The obituary said Jokowi passed away at the age of 53 on last Sunday at 3.30 p.m. and his body was laid out at the PDI-P’s headquarters in Lenteng Agung, Jakarta, before being cremated yesterday. The obituary has vexed Jokowi’s supporters, who condemned it as a black campaign involving the sensitive SARA (ethnicity, religion, race, and inter-group relations) issues.”
Source: http://www.tempo.co/read/news/2014/05/08/055576313/Obituary-of-Jokowi-Appears-on-Facebook-Twitter

Legal action is being initiated: “Sunggul Hamonangan Sirait, the head of law and constitution division of the pro-Jokowi movement (Projo), filed a report with the police on Saturday, following a controversial online post citing Jokowi’s death entitled “RIP Jokowi”.
Sunggul said at least three items could be categorized as defamation: The false death; the statement that Jokowi was of Chinese descent’ and the use of the names Ir. Herbertus Joko Widodo and Chinese name Oey Hong Liong.”
Source: http://news.asiaone.com/news/asia/jokowi-supporters-report-obituary-ads-police
The smear campaign comes at the same time as the final results of the parliamentary election are being published by the Election Commission. With 18.9 % the PDI-P is the winner, and the National Democratic (Nasdem) Party which won 6.7 % has endorsed PDI-P and presidential candidate Joko Widodo. This provides the necessary 25 % to nominate Jokowi.
If the origin of the fake obituary should ever be found out, it may be interesting to see who is so frightened of a Widodo presidency. A candidate who looks so serious with cleaning up – programs must have a number of natural enemies.