Virtual plenary material judicial review hearing of Law No. 7 of 2017 on General Elections, Tuesday (10/4/2021). Photo by Humas MK/Ifa.

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Tuesday, October 5, 2021 | 18:33 WIB

JAKARTA, Public Relations—The nature of decisions by the Election Organizer Ethics Council (DKPP) is not the same as the final and binding nature of those of judicial bodies, as they do only for the president; the central, provincial, and regency/city General Elections Commission (KPU); and the Elections Supervisory Body (Bawaslu). Therefore, there are checks and balances on the DKPP, said expert staff of Law and National Unity of the Ministry of Home Affairs Eko Prasetyanto Purnomo Putro on behalf of the Government at the material judicial review hearing of Law No. 7 of 2017 on General Elections. The third hearing for the case No. 32/PUU-XIX/2021 took place on Tuesday, October 5, 2021 virtually in the plenary courtroom.

“Therefore, the DKPP as an independent election organizer must protect the human right to vote and be elected in order to realize direct, public, free, confidential, honest, and fair elections,” he said at the hearing chaired by Chief Justice Anwar Usman.

He said that the DKPP has the right to take steps to enforce code of ethics among election organizers that have been regulated in laws and regulations, including the Election Law. This is to maintain the integrity, honor, independence, and credibility of the election organizers so that the objectives of the elections are achieved. “One of which is to maintain the democratic administrative system and to implement fair elections that have integrity,” he added.

Eko argued that if the authority of the DKPP was abolished, no institution would oversee the implementation of the elections. He added that the DKPP decisions’ final and binding nature cannot be equated with those of other judicial bodies because the DKPP is an internal apparatus of the election organizers that is authorized by law. They only bind the president, the central/provincial/regency/city KPU, and Bawaslu.

Also read: KPU Members Question the Constitutionality of DKPP Decision’s Finality and Binding Nature

DKPP’s Duties Regulated by Law

Eko further explained that the KPU as the implementer and supervisor of the elections is supervised by Bawaslu, while both the KPU and Bawaslu’s members are supervised by the DKPP. Monitoring of the DKPP is regulated in Article 161 paragraph (2) of the Election Law: its formation must undergo consultation with the House of Representatives (DPR) and the Government through a hearing meeting (RDP). In addition, the control of the DKPP’s performance is regulated in Article 156 paragraph (4) of the Election Law: all DKPP members may be replaced mid-tenure. This article is related to Article 155 paragraphs (4) and (5) of the Election Law, which regulates the DKPP membership.

Eko added that the 1945 Constitution mandates the legislatures to regulate the material further, but did not set any limitation.

Government’s Hope

Eko also relayed the Government’s hope that the Petitioners would participate in discussing the revision to the Election Law. “The Government appreciates the community’s efforts in providing inputs and participation in instilling constitutional understanding, which will be valuable inputs for the Government, and for the Indonesian people in general. The Government hopes that the Petitioners will provide inputs and recommendations to the improvement of the a quo law in the future and that dialogue between the people and the Government is maintained for the shared goal of developing the nation and state life for a better future for Indonesia, for developing themselves in government, and for making positive contributions to realizing Indonesia’s goals as referred to in the Preamble to the 1945 Constitution,” he said.

Also read: Arief Budiman and Evi Novida Ginting Revise Petition on the Constitutionality of DKPP Decision

At the preliminary hearing, General Elections Commission (KPU) members Arief Budiman and Evi Novida Ginting Manik requested the material judicial review petition No. 32/PUU-XIX/2021 on the finality and binding nature of Election Organizer Ethics Council (DKPP) decisions in Law No. 7 of 2017 on General Elections. They question Article 458 paragraph (1) and parts of Article 14 letter m, Article 17 letter m, Article 20 letter m, Article 38 paragraph (4), Article 93 letter g point 1, Article 97 letter e point 1, Article 101 letter e point 1, Article 105 letter e point 1, Article 137 paragraph (1), Article 159 paragraph (3) letter d, Article 458 paragraphs (5), (10), (11), and (14), as well as Article 459 paragraph (5) of the Election Law.

Evi (Petitioner I) revealed that she had been dismissed by the DKPP through the DKPP Decision No. 317-PKEDKPP/X/2019 dated March 18, 2020, followed up by the Presidential Decree (Keppres) No. 34/P of 2020 on the Dishonorable Discharge of KPU Members for the 2017-2022 Term dated March 23, 2020. Although the State Administrative Court (PTUN) had granted her suit in Decision No. 82/G/2020/PTUN-JKT dated July 23, 2020 and annulled the Keppres No. 34/P of 2020—resulting in Petitioner I returning as a KPU member for the 2017-2022 term—the DKPP didn’t acknowledge it.

Therefore, the Petitioners requested that the Court declare the provisions of Article 14 letter m, Article 17 letter m, Article 20 letter m, Article 38 paragraph (4), Article 93 letter g point 1, Article 97 letter e point 1, Article 101 letter e point 1, Article 105 letter e point 1, Article 137 paragraph (1), Article 159 paragraph (3) letter d, Article 458 paragraphs (5), (10), (11), and (14), as well as Article 459 paragraph (5) of the Election Law along the phrase ‘decision’ conditionally constitutional insofar as it be interpreted as ‘decree’ that can be appealed in PTUN.

Writer        : Utami Argawati
Editor        : Lulu Anjarsari P.
PR            : M. Halim
Translator  : Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)

Translation uploaded on 10/6/2021 08:40 WIB

Disclaimer: The original version of the news is in Indonesian. In case of any differences between the English and the Indonesian versions, the Indonesian version will prevail.

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