Elections Supervisory Committee (Panwaslu) officials in Banguntapan district, Bantul regency, Yogyakarta, forcefully dispersed campaign volunteers for the Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo-Jusuf Kalla ticket on Sunday for alleged campaign schedule violations.

The volunteers were holding an event in front of the Jogja Expo Center (JECP) building to collect signatures as a show of moral support for the candidate pair.

The peaceful action started around 9 a.m. local time on Sunday. When the volunteers began to unfurl a white banner, Panwaslu officials forcefully dispersed them.

'We have a police permit to hold the event. We don't think we have violated any regulations,' said the event coordinator Kusbowo on Sunday.

He further said the General Elections Commission (KPU) had also been informed about the event and had no objection.

'If today is not a scheduled campaign day, the KPU should warn us days before because all of activities in this event had been scheduled,' said Kusbowo.

Separately, a Panwaslu Bantul member, Herlina, claimed the organization had not received any information about the dispersal. 'Panwaslu Banguntapan has not yet submitted a report,' she said.

Meanwhile, hundreds of fruit vendors in Beji, Patuk, Gunungkidul, gave donations to support Jokowi-Kalla's campaign activities, giving donations of Rp 1,000 (8 US cents) upward.

'It's to show our real support for Pak Jokowi,' said Tukiran, one of the fruit vendors. They managed to collect Rp 624,500 for the Jokowi-Kalla campaign team.

Tukiran said he and hundreds other of fruit vendors in Beji supported Jokowi as they believed him to be honest and close to the people.

'What we need is a leader who is honest and aware about the problems of the people. All candidates offer promises but they stay on paper. What we want is proof, not only promises,' he said. (ebf)