Monday, February 22, 2021 | 14:44 WIB
The Petitioner’s witnesses testifying at the third hearing of the Belu regent election results dispute, Monday (22/2/2021) in the Courtroom of the Constitutional Court. Photo by Humas MK/Ifa.
JAKARTA, Public Relations of the Constitutional Court—Belu regent Candidate Pair No. 1 Willybrodus Lay-J. T Ose Luan presented several witnesses to support their arguments. The Court heard the Petitioner’s, the Respondent’s, and the Relevant Party’s witnesses for the case No. 18/PHP.BUP-XIX/2021 on Monday, February 22, 2021 in the plenary courtroom.
The Petitioner presented three witnesses. The first witness, the chair of Petitioner’s campaign team Yohanes Balawakarang, confirmed the anomaly at TPS 02 of Nanaenoe Village, Nanaet Dubesi Subdistrict. He revealed that a voter had an e-KTP (resident ID card) of Malaka Regency, which is outside of the polling station (TPS) in question. However, they were given a ballot by the KPPS (polling station working committee). Balawakarang believed the KPPS member had made a mistake because the voter filled in the forms after they voted. The Petitioner then raised the issue at the subdistrict’s plenary meeting, but the committee said the meeting wasn’t the appropriate forum to do so.
A similar incident also occurred at TPS 6 of Rinbesi Subdistrict where, based on verification by the IT team using the SIAP application, Stefanus Sri Handoko Seran Nahak had used an e-KTP of South Sulawesi. Balawakarang talked about the results of team’s verification of all the C1 forms. He said over 4,000 additional voters had cast their ballots using e-KTP. The panel, chaired by Chief Justice Anwar Usman, then asked the witness to show the attendance lists. Balawakarang said that, in 12 subdistricts across the regency, the lists weren’t given to the witnesses at the subdistrict level.
“A witness of Candidate Pair No. 1 (Petitioner) walked out because the attendance lists weren’t shown. However, at TPS 01 of Naitimu Village, witnesses discovered the attendance list with 11 [additional voters] who used e-KTP whose [KTP numbers] only consisted of eight digits, based on the attendance list at the TPS,” Balawakarang explained.
Money Politics Practices
In this testimony, Balawakarang said that vote buying or “money politics” also occurred in the Belu regent election. He alleged that Candidate Pair No. 2 Taolin Agustinus-Aloysius Haleserens (Relevant Party) had promised Rp7.5 million to form groups to support their campaign.
Balawakarang also alleged that 514 university students had been mobilized from Kupang and gathered at Rumah Perubahan (the Relevant Party’s secretariat) during election silence, based on information from Facebook and screenshots of the Relevant Party’s campaign team’s WhatsApp group chat. He also explained that the Petitioner had received insulting writings when campaigning in Maudemu. “I was reported to Bawaslu (Elections Supervisory Body) but the reports were never accepted by Bawaslu on the ground of lack of evidence, so they weren’t registered,” he added.
Another witness, Theodorus M. Djuang, who was a mandate witness in West Atambua Subdistrict, testified that at TPS 8 of Berdao Village and TPS 1 of Beirafu Village some numbers in a column of the C result copy form had been scratched off and changed after the witness had gone home. A typo in the same form was found at TPS 7 of Umanen Village, showing that 216 ballots had been received but 219 voters had cast their votes and that there were 8 surplus ballots. This resulted in a difference of 1 ballot.
Also read: Suspicion of Violations in Belu and Indragiri Hulu Regency Elections
KPU’s Witnesses Responds
At the same hearing, the Belu Regency KPU (General Elections Commission) as Respondent presented several witnesses. One of the witnesses, West Atambua PPK (subdistrict election committee) member Aurelia Abel, refuted the Petitioner’s allegation of additional voters in Bakustulama Village of West Atambua Subdistrict as stated in the petition. She also refuted the allegation that Serifanus Sila had voted at TPS 13 of Umanen Village using e-KTP outside of West Atambua Subdistrict.
“There was no such a voter by that name, Your Excellencies. However, there was a voter by the name of Sefrianus Sila who voted at TPS 13 of Umanen Village. He used an e-KTP showing relevant name and domicile,” she said.
Abel also refuted that additional voters named Maria Y. Naet and Yuven Taka had voted using e-KTP outside of their domicile. “It’s not true, because Yuven voted according to his domicile,” she said.
Attendance List Not Given
In her testimony, Abel supported the Petitioner’s witness’s statement and confirmed that the Respondent didn’t give the attendance list. She revealed that it was because there was no objection regarding the vote acquisition shown in the C-KWK form. “The witness asked for the DPTb (additional final voters list) attendance list, but we said that there was no [objection regarding] results. We explained it repeatedly.
Abel also rejected the Petitioner’s allegation of scratch-off in the C-KWK form by the Respondent without the candidate pairs’ knowledge. “It’s not true and the scratch-off didn’t happen, Your Excellencies,” she stressed.
At the hearing, Candidate Pair No. 2 Taolin Agustinus-Aloysius Haleserens (Relevant Party) presented two witnesses: Petrus Yosepf Beleyto and Tisera Antonius. Both rejected the Petitioner’s allegation of voter inflation.
Also read: No Objections, Belu Regency KPU Deems Petition Not under Court's Authority
Willybrodus Lay-J. T Ose Luan appealed to the Court to annul the Belu Regency KPU’s decree No. 224/PL.02.6-Kpt/5304/KPU-Kab/XII/2020 on the Certification of the 2020 Belu Regency Election Vote Counting Recapitulation dated December 16, 2020. The decree certified that the Petitioner received 50,376 votes. Meanwhile, the Relevant Party received 50,623 when they were supposed to have received 50,197, 179 fewer than the Petitioner.
The Petitioner alleged that there had been violations at TPS of Maneikun Village in Lasiolat Subdistrict, TPS of Fatubenao Village in Kota Atambua Subdistrict, and other TPS. These violations were claimed to have reduced the Petitioner’s votes. They also alleged vote inflation for the Candidate Pair No. 2 at TPS in Ren Rua Village of Raimanuk Sub-district and several other TPS. Furthermore, the Petitioner said there were additional voters from other regencies, while some voters used invalid KTP (resident ID card). They also found indications of vote buying and voter mobilization, which they said would be proven by video recording of witnesses’ statements and other evidence in court.
Therefore, in the petitum, they requested that the Court reject the entire petition and declare the KPU decree null and void and not legally binding.
Writer: Fuad Subhan
Editor: Lulu Anjarsari
Uploader: Fuad Subhan
Translator: Yuniar Widiastuti
Editor: R.A. Indah Apriyanti
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Translation uploaded on 02/22/2021 17:58 WIB
Disclaimer: The original version of the news is in Indonesian. In case of any differences between the English and the Indonesian version, the Indonesian version will prevail.
Monday, February 22, 2021 | 14:44 WIB 427