Chief Justice Anwar Usman, Deputy Chief Justice Aswanto, and Constitutional Justice Arief Hidayat welcoming Bawaslu members, Tuesday (8/30/2022) in the Constitutional Court. Photo by MKRI/Ifa.

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Tuesday, August 30, 2022 | 21:37 WIB

JAKARTA (MKRI)—The Constitutional Court (MK) welcomed Bawaslu (Elections Supervisory Body) on Tuesday afternoon, August 30, 2022. Bawaslu chairperson Rahmat Bagja and members Lolly Suhenty and Herywn Jefler Hielsa Malonda were welcomed by Chief Justice Anwar Usman, Deputy Chief Justice Aswanto, Constitutional Justice Arief Hidayat, and Chief Registrar Muhidin at the 15th floor of the Constitutional Court building.

Bagja said the visit was to send an invitation to the Court to attend the international Global Network on Electoral Justice (GNEJ).

“Aside from visiting, we intend to invite the honorable [constitutional justices] to attend the international Global Network on Electoral Justice (GNEJ),” he added.

He hoped for collaboration between the Court and Bawaslu to improve understanding of the Court’s procedural laws on election results dispute settlement.

“If the Pancasila and Constitution Education Center (Pusdik) has some time in its schedule, we hope to learn. We’re planning on a 5- to 7-day program. This is so that when litigating in the Constitutional Court, we won’t feel awkward. Hopefully this audience is not a one-time thing,” he added.

Guarding Constitutional Democracy

Constitutional Justice Arief Hidayat said that the upcoming 2024 Simultaneous Election would be different from the previous ones. “Actually, the Constitutional Court, the KPU (General Elections Commission), Bawaslu, and the DKPP (Election Organizer Ethics Council) have equal positions in guarding Indonesia’s constitutional democracy, the Constitution, and statutory legislation,” he said.

However, each of those institutions has different authorities, duties, and functions and they may not interfere with one another. He stressed that the Court has the duty to settle election results disputes, but it often face challenges because of invalid legal facts and numbers, as what occurred in the settlement of 2014 election results disputes.

“The weakness was at the organizers level. There were a lot of incomplete data, so we had difficulty deciding on cases using those data. The justices faced challenges in deciding based on legal and empirical facts. It disturbed the justices’ confidence in ruling, but they must make rulings no matter what,” he explained.

Over time, he added, the elections have run well so and things have been convenient for Bawaslu, the DKPP, and the Constitutional Court. There have been extraordinary developments by the KPU.

He also said that these institutions are united by the same vision, mission, and goal—guarding Indonesia’s democracy that is truly constitutional based on the 1945 Constitution.

“Let us organize well so that there won’t be sharp differences,” he stressed.

Meanwhile, Deputy Chief Justice Aswanto said the Constitutional Court, the KPU, Bawaslu, and the DKPP must have a uniform perception. That is why technical assistance programs are necessary. He invited Bawaslu to join these programs.

“The Court would like to invite Bawaslu to these technical assistance programs to learn to draft testimonies. Testimonies must be uniform in order to ease examination,” he explained.

He asserted that Bawaslu’s testimonies were often verbose but contained things that the Court did not require. What the Court need is whether or not violations occur and how they are resolved.

Writer        : Utami Argawati
Editor        : Nur R.
Translator  : Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)

Translation uploaded on 9/14/2022 14:46 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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