Tuesday, March 2, 2021 | 19:06 WIB
Constitutional Justice Suhartoyo questioning the Relevant Party’s witness at the evidentiary hearing of the 2020 South Labuhanbatu Regency election results dispute, Tuesday (2/3/2021). Photo by Humas MK/Ilham.
JAKARTA, Public Relations—The evidentiary hearing of the 2020 South Labuhanbatu regent election dispute case No. 37/PHP.BUP-XIX/2021 was held by the Constitutional Court (MK) on Tuesday afternoon, March 2, 2021. The hearing had been scheduled to present the witnesses and experts.
Ihwan, a witness for Candidate Pair No. 3 Hasnah Harahap-Kholil Jufri Harahap (Petitioner) confirmed that at seven polling stations (TPS) in Bukit Tujuh Village, a company has organized efforts to mobilize and intimidate voters to vote for Candidate Pair No. 2 Edimin-Ahmad Fadli Tanjung.
“Through several foremen, the company urged its employees in nine divisions to support one of the candidate pairs. Provocateurs among employees who didn’t support Candidate Pair No. 2 would be given a penalty in the form of work transfer,” Ihwan explained before the Panel II justices—Deputy Chief Justice Aswanto (chair) alongside Constitutional Justices Suhartoyo and Daniel Yusmic P. Foekh.
Also read: MK Holds the Preliminary Session of Regent Election Dispute of Labuhanbatu, South Labuhanbatu, and Asahan
Problematic Final Voters List
The Petitioner’s second witness M. Efendi explained the issue involving the final voters list (DPT) at TPS 18 of Torganda Village, Torgamba Subdistrict. It turns out that the DPT listed relocated voters, dead voters, and voters who are currently serving a prison sentence. “Their names were listed in the DPT as voters at TPS 18 of Torganda Village. There were 31 people,” he said.
Efendi revealed that he had discovered the information from the village office. Some of the voters in the DPT are his customers. “Some of the voters in the DPT are buyers of the motorcycles that I sell. So I know some information about them,” he said. He is currently managing a motorcycle showroom in Torganda.
The Petitioner’s third witness Bangun Sahril Harahap explained that Torgamba Subdistrict consists of 14 villages, most of whose territory is oil palm plantations. He was a witness for Candidate Pair No. 3 at the Torgamba Subdistrict PPK (election committee).
“For the plantations of PT Torganda Sibisa Mangatur in Torganda Village and PT AIP Tasik Raja in Bukit Tujuh Village, we couldn’t recruit witnesses because 100 percent of the village residents were employed by those two plantations. None of them were willing to be witnesses. We had to recruit out-of-precinct witnesses to monitor the polling stations (TPS),” Harahap said.
Petitioner’s Expert
The Petitioner’s expert Nur Hidayat Sardini highlighted the fact that the KPU (Respondent) couldn’t provide the appropriate responses to many issues raised regarding the South Labuhanbatu election. “I think the Respondent’s responses didn’t answer [the questions regarding] all the things that had occurred in the election. For example, many issues regarding data should’ve been addressed by the Respondent. [However], the Respondent didn’t elaborate on the bases of mitigation efforts that it had taken,” he said.
He also believed Bawaslu didn’t do its job properly. It should’ve assisted the monitoring of the election. Based on Law No. 7 of 2017, the KPU works alongside Bawaslu.
In the 2020 South Labuhanbatu election, Sardini said, he couldn’t find documents detailing polling station overseers at 21 TPS. “Every issue requires a solution. The Bawaslu rank must be able to elaborate on the details of all violations. The election organizer ought to explain the reason to every execution of authority,” he stressed.
Two PPK Chairs Testify
Next, the Respondent’s witness, Kampung Rakyat PPK chair Beni Irawan, recounted the recapitulation in Kampung Rakyat Subdistrict in response to the objection of Candidate Pair No. 3 regarding unsealed ballot boxes.
“The cables used to seal the ballot boxes were intact and fully functional. The contents of the ballot boxes were definitely intact. No changes happened to them. They were not missing or damaged,” he said.
Another witness, Torgamba PPK chair M. Azhar Siregar, explained the facts at 11 TPS (TPS 05, TPS 06, TPS 07, TPS 08, TPS 09, TPS 10, TPS 11, TPS 12, TPS 13, TPS 14, and TPS 18) within the territory of PT Torganda Sibisa Mangatur in Torganda Village as well as several TPS within the territory of PT AIP Tasik Raja in Bukit Tujuh Village. “The voter turnout at the 11 TPS was over 90%. [It is true] not only in the 2020 South Labuhanbatu regent election, but also in the 2019 presidential and legislative elections, and in the 2018 North Sumatera governor election,” he said.
Also read: General Election Commission (KPU) of Labuhanbatu and South Labuhanbatu Response in MK Court Hearing
Relevant Party’s Witnesses
Meanwhile, Candidate Pair No. 2 Edimin-Ahmad (Relevant Party) presented witness Bendu Bernard Manurung who cast his vote at TPS 12 of Torganda Village. At the TPS, the Relevant Party earned 209 votes, while the Petitioner earned 38.
Next, the Relevant Party presented Singaraja B. Samosir, a voter in the election and an employee of PT Tasik Raja. He said that PT Tasik Raja didn’t intimidate or force its employees to vote for any candidate pair. He also talked about vote buying.
“On December 3, 2020, I received a phone call from Ali Siregar from the campaign team of Candidate Pair No. 3. I was invited by the regent to an event on December 5, 2020. I visited the regent’s official home; I was offered a meal, and chatted [with the regent]. The regent advised that I support Candidate Pair No. 3 and gave me an envelope containing Rp5 million,” he recounted.
The next witness Robert Kennedy Sinurat testified about the Torgamba PPK. On December 11-12, he sat through the vote counting recapitulation in Torgamba Subdistrict, where he only saw 2 witnesses for Candidate Pairs No. 2 and 3. Not until December 13 did he see almost all of the candidate pairs’ witnesses, except for those of Candidate Pair No. 1.
Writer: Nano Tresna Arfana
Editor: Nur R.
Uploader: Nur Budiman
Translator: Yuniar Widiastuti
Editor: R.A. Indah Apriyanti
Managing Editor: Budi Wijayanto
Translation uploaded on 3/3/2021 14:02 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.
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