Deputy Chief Justice Aswanto handing over books on Constitutional Court landmark decisions to PSI Chairperson and Secretary General, Natalie and Raja Juli Antoni, Thursday (28/2) at the Pancasila and Constitution Education Center, Cisarua, Bogor, West Java. Photo by Humas MK/Ilham.

CISARUA, Public Relations of the Constitutional Court—Deputy Chief Justice Aswanto opened the Technical Assistance Program of the 2019 Elections Results Dispute Resolution for the Indonesian Solidarity Party (PSI), Thursday (28/2/2019) at the Pancasila and Constitution Education Center, Cisarua, Bogor, West Java.

In his keynote speech before 122 PSI Central and Regional Executive Boards, Justice Aswanto said that being elections contestants was not easy because without good preparation, they would not pass the test, as many older political parties had not met the requirements for the 2019 Elections.

He also said that he had dealt with the elections since the 2014 legislative election, as he was a member of South Sulawesi election supervisory committee. His experience led him to the awareness of the field implementation of the elections. In his opinion, ad hoc, temporary field organizers have the potential for making mistakes that can harm the election contestants. In that case, the Constitutional Court serves to return justice to those felt cheated out.

Justice Aswanto explained that the loss of votes can be resolved through election results dispute resolution at the Elections Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) and finally at the Constitutional Court. The law professor of Hasanuddin University said that all materials that have evidentiary value will not escape inspection. Therefore, he asked that political party witnesses at polling stations (TPS) be militant, monitor the elections, and collect official documents, so in case of a violation will have sufficient evidence to file to the Court. However, political parties must also be sharp as there might be field witnesses who falsify election documents.

In his speech, Justice Aswanto said that before taking office as a constitutional justice, he had once been an election consultant, and witnessed many strategies for becoming a legislative candidate that voters always remember. To the participants, he reminded that PSI members form good rapport with elections organizers to avoid reduction or addition of votes, so that their results corresponds to the voters’ votes.

Justice Aswanto also expressed appreciation for PSI cadres who were mostly young. He believes that being a politician is not easy. “To be a politician requires you to have two hearts, because sometimes constituents come to your house at midnight,” he said.

Similarly, in facing elections, the Constitutional Court extends its working hour to 24.00 in order to facilitate justice seekers. In addition, he said the collaboration between the Court and political parties aims at uniforming perception with election contestants. He believes that political parties play a strategic role in building democracy and may become policy makers if they manage to be elected as legislature or into the cabinet.

Meanwhile, PSI Chairperson Grace Natalie in her speech affirmed that the 2019 Elections will be the first experience for the party. However, the party has contributed to the people such as petitioning judicial review of several laws at the Constitutional Court. (Ilham/LA/Yuniar Widiastuti)