Aburizal Bakrie claims responsibility for Prabowo letter to teachers

Golkar Party chairman Aburizal Bakrie said on Saturday that he was behind a letter sent to teachers asking them to support Prabowo Subianto's presidential bid, Indonesian media reported.

"Yes, it's my idea. It is good, isn't it?," he said as reported by newsportal Merdeka.com.

Aburizal emphasised that sending letters should not be perceived as a campaign violation.

"It's only to ask for people's blessing, nothing special. Why are you not allowed to ask for a blessing?" he said as quoted by Kompas.com.

The Federation of Indonesian Teachers Associations (FSGI) has reported Prabowo to the Election Supervisory Body (Bawaslu) after several members received the letter.

Retno Listyarti from the FSGI said the letter was in breach of campaign regulations because political campaigning in education institutions is prohibited under Indonesian electoral law.