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Orient Patriot Rewu Kore as elected regent attended the hearing of the Regional Election Results Dispute for Sabu Raijua Regency virtually on Monday (15/03) in the courtroom. Photo by Public Relations/Ifa.  

Jakarta, HUMAS MKRI – Komisi Pemilihan Umum (KPU) Kabupaten Sabu Raijua (Termohon) JAKARTA, PUBLIC RELATIONS–General Elections Commission (KPU) of Sabu Raijua Regency (Respondent) had conducted the document validation to the Department of Population and Civil Registration of Kupang on September 16, 2020 which the head of department stated that Orient Patriot Rewu Kore was indeed a citizen of Kupang based on the administration process of the ID Card (e-KTP).

This matter was explained by Sudwijayanti as the attorney of KPU in the hearing for the Regent Election Results Dispute for Sabu Raijua Regency on Monday (15/03) in the Constitutional Court. The Special Panel Hearing was chaired by Justice Saldi Isra accompanied by Justices Suhartoyo and Enny Nurbaningsih.

The agenda of the hearing for case Number 133/PHP.BUP-XIX/2021 filed by Candidate Pair Number 1 Nikodemus N. Rihi Heke dan Yuhanis Ulu Kale was to hear the Respondent’s Answer as well as the information of Relevant Party and Bawaslu.

She further mentioned that during the application process, KPU had conducted the process accordingly on September 4-6, 2020 and verified the candidate pairs on September 7, 2020.

However on September 11, 2020, KPU received a recommendation from Bawaslu dated on September 10, 2020 telling KPU to investigate the validity of the files for running candidate named Orient Patriot Rewu Kore. Therefore, KPU held a plenary meeting to clarify the ID Card to the Department of Population and Civil Registration of Kupang. 

“Verification result showed that Orient was listed as indonesian citizen. Therefore, on September 14, 2020, KPU shared the verification result and requested to submit all necessary documents on September 16, 2020 at the latest,” she said.

Indonesian Citizen Originally from Kupang

Paskaria Tombi as the attorney of Relevant Party in his explanation shared that Orient Kore was a Regent Candidate Number 2 which was indeed an Indonesian Citizen as he was born and grew up in Kupang, and had parents originally from Indonesia.

“Other than that, Orient had KTP and active indonesian passport, therefore, he is indonesian citizen de facto and de jure,” he said. 

He also revealed that Orient had never submitted for removing his nationality as indonesian and that there was no related document on that. Based on the Law of Nationality, losing a nationality should be initiated by a report with clarification and a decision from the relevant department. Starting from September 2020 until finish the election, there was no report nor clarification process. Therefore, Orient was an indonesian and his status should be protected by the country.

He further explained that after graduating from a school in Kupang, Orient worked in the United States in 1997 and married a US citizen, however he did not remove his nationality as indonesian. It was when he worked for a company there which required the employees to have a US nationality. Before submitting his application in the Regional Head Elections, he had removed his US nationality in August 2020.

“August 2020, Orient submitted a request for a removal of citizenship to the US ambassador, however, because of the negligence of the embassy, the request was not processed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, if we refer to the Law of the Nationality Administration of the US, Orient shall have a single nationality. So, the letter from the US Embassy telling that Orient was a US passport holder was not a reference of a dual nationality. The embassy should have removed the nationality in August 2020 as all requirements had been fulfilled by Orient and there was no legal ground for the embassy to delay the process,” he shared.

Asking for Embassy’s Assistance

In the next occasion, Bawaslu of Sabu Raijua represented by Markus Haba shared that there had been reports from local people about Orient’s nationality to which Bawaslu reminded KPU to investigate the validity of documents for candidate who had lived for a significant amount of time in the US. However, according to Bawaslu, KPU did not give any answer. Then, on September 5, 2020, Bawaslu sent a letter to the Head of Immigration Office in Kupang.

On September 10, 2020 Bawaslu received the response from the local immigration office which was doing the investigation on the matter. Bawaslu also sent a letter to the US Embassy requesting for an assistance regarding the nationality-related data of Orient and help to find the solution of this matter. 

In the preliminary hearing previously, petitioner plead the Court to annul the Decree of KPU Number 25/HK.03.1-Kpt/5320/KPU-Kab/I/2020 concerning the Certification of the Regent and Vice Regent of Sabu Raijua dated on December 16, 2020 due to the recommendation of Bawaslu. 

Petitioner strongly objected to the Decree of KPU because based on the recommendation of Bawaslu that the elected candidate did not fulfill the qualification to be a regent and vice regent. According to the petitioner, that decree was against the Article 10 paragraph (1) of the Law 30/2014 concerning the Government Administration. Based on the legal facts, petitioner plead the Court to declare that candidate pair number 2 was not eligible to be Regent and Vice Regent Candidate as it violated the decree of KPU Number 1 Year 2020 Article 1 Point 18. Then, to declare Petitioner as Regent and Vice Regent of Sabu Raijua Regency of 2020 and/or at least command KPU for an election redo in Sabu Raijua Regency. 

Writer: Sri Pujianti.
Editor: Nur R.

Translator: WA
Editor (EN): IA
Managing Editor: BW

Translation uploaded on March 15, 2021 at 22.03 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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