Four ministers testifying for the Constitutional Court at a 2024 presidential election results disputes hearing, Friday (4/5/2024). Photo by MKRI/Ifa.

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JAKARTA (MKRI) — Four ministers gave their testimonies after being summonsed by the Constitutional Court (MK) at a hearing for the 2024 presidential election results disputes (presidential PHPU) on Friday, April 5, 2024. They are Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Cultural Affairs Muhadjir Effendi, Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto, Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani Indrawati, and Minister of Social Affairs Tri Rismaharini. 

These ministers were summonsed by the Court in relation to the Petitioners’ allegation of the correlation between the disbursement of social assistance (bansos) and the victory of Presidential Ticket 02 Prabowo Subianto-Gibran Rakabuming Raka in the 2024 election. They testified in response to both cases No. 1/PHPU.PRES-XXII/2024 by Presidential Ticket 01 Anies Rasyid Baswedan-Muhaimin Iskandar and No. 2/PHPU.PRES-XXII/2024 by Presidential Ticket 03 Ganjar Pranowo-Mahfud MD.

Muhadjir said in his presentation that the government’s social assistance programs are often associated with the 2024 election. However, he said, the provision had been planned since the beginning of President Joko Widodo’s (Jokowi) administration before the implementation of the democratic event, aimed at preventing poverty and eliminating extreme poverty.

“We understand that our responsibilities and functions in coordinating, synchronizing, and overseeing program implementation in the field are often associated with recent democratic event. However, it is imperative to underscore that the execution of these programs was meticulously planned from the beginning to prevent an increase of poverty rate and concurrently to diminish it and eradicate extreme poverty,” Muhadjir said before the eight presiding constitutional justices led by Chief Justice Suhartoyo in the plenary courtroom.

He highlighted that as of March 2023, Indonesia’s poverty rate stood at 9.36 percent, whereas the targeted range was set between 6.5 to 7.5 percent. In parallel, the extreme poverty rate during the same period was 1.12 percent, with the ultimate target being zero percent. Notably, the extreme poverty rate saw a marginal reduction of merely 0.92 percent from its 2022 level of 2.04 percent.

Muhadjir said the House of Representatives (DPR) had approved the social protection (perlinsos) program with a budget of Rp496.8 trillion. Such a program organized by the Coordinating Ministry for Human Development and Cultural Affairs was subsidies, social assistance, and social security. The government food reserves (CPP) rice aid disbursed to the populace in January to June 2024 serves as an extension of the 2023 program aimed at mitigating the impact of El Niño and sustaining the people’s purchasing power. This assistance is distinct from regular social assistance overseen by the National Food Agency (Bapanas).

Meanwhile, Airlangga said the El Nino mitigation implemented at the end of last year until early 2024 is the reason why the government is aggressively distributing social assistance. This is because El Nino has disrupted food production, especially rice, in many locations, where either planting cannot start or must be delayed. This caused food prices to soar, which then affected the poor and vulnerable.

“So, in this period, rice production declined, international rice prices increased, and inflation rose. This is one of the considerations for social assistance related to El Nino and food,” Airlangga asserted.

He added that if the impact of El Nino is not resolved immediately, it will impact food inflation, which has continued to climb since July 2023 until its peak in March 2024 at 10.33 percent year on year (YoY). Social assistance is intended to maintain people’s purchasing power to mitigate the increase of poverty and potential economic slowdown.

In addition, Sri Mulyani explained, realization of the social assistance budget in January-February 2024 reached Rp12.8 trillion. It includes Program Keluarga Harapan (PKH, Family Hope Program) for 10 million beneficiary families (KPM) and staple food cards for 18.7 million beneficiary families. The disbursement of subsidies and other expenditures reached Rp15.3 trillion while that of other social protection programs was Rp9.8 trillion.

Sri Mulyani claimed that the pattern of social protection budget realization in the last six years, 2019-2024, has not changed, except in 2023 where there was a significant difference in the disbursement of social assistance by the Ministry of Social Affairs. It was quite low in the first two months due to the reorganization of cooperation between the Ministry and banks.

She also emphasized that the state budget (APBN) had been set before the certification of the presidential and vice-presidential candidates for the 2024 election. The APBN had been prepared since early 2023. The social assistance budget ceiling in 2024 as stated in the March 2024 edition of the KiTa (Kinerja dan Fakta, “performance and fact”) is Rp152.30 trillion, an increase of around 6.08 percent from the ceiling for the 2023 fiscal year of Rp143.57 trillion. Until February 2024 or the election month, social assistance was disbursed on February 14, 2024, amounting to Rp22.53 trillion, an increase of up to 134.86 percent from that disbursed in February 2023, which was Rp9.58 trillion.

“If the timeline for the preparation of the 2024 APBN is juxtaposed with the 2024 presidential election stages carried by the General Elections Commission (KPU), the 2024 State Budget Law was completed even before the presidential and vice-presidential candidates were determined,” Sri Mulyani explained.

Social Protection Allocation

Next, Tri Rismaharini stated that in the 2023 fiscal year, the Ministry of Social Affairs was allocated a budget of Rp87.2 trillion. Of this amount, 98.65 percent or Rp86.1 trillion was designated for social protection programs, with the remaining portion allocated for ministry management. Meanwhile, in the 2024 fiscal year, the total budget for the Ministry amounted to Rp79.214 trillion, 95.46 percent of which, or Rp75.61 trillion, was allocated for social assistance programs.

“Comparing the budgets of 2023 and 2024, we observed a decrease from Rp87,275,374,140,000 to Rp79,214,083,464,000,” said Risma.

The hearing for the testimonies of four ministers was postponed for Friday prayer service. It will resume at 13:00 WIB.

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The panel of justices summonsed four ministers of the Onward Indonesia Cabinet to provide testimony at the ongoing hearing of the 2024 presidential PHPU cases. This announcement was made by the panel at the conclusion of the hearing on Monday, April 1, 2024. In addition to the four ministers, the Constitutional Court will also call upon the Election Organizer Ethics Council (DKPP) to testify.

Chief Justice Suhartoyo denied the allegation that the Court presented the ministers by the Petitioners’ request. He emphasized that the summons was made for the benefit of the justices.

“As discussed in the justice deliberation meeting (RPH), universally, judicial bodies are inter-parties or binding on the parties. There would be partiality if they accommodated evidence requested by any one of the parties. So, this is solely for the benefit of the justices,” the chief justice said.

The Constitutional Court has been hearing the 2024 presidential election results disputes. It has received petitions from Presidential Ticket 01 Anies Rasyid Baswedan-A. Muhaimin Iskandar and Presidential Ticket 03 Ganjar Pranowo-Mahfud MD. The petitions were registered as cases No. 1/PHPU.PRES-XXII/2024 for Anies-Muhaimin and No. 2/PHPU.PRES-XXII/2024 for Ganjar-Mahfud.

Author         : Mimi Kartika
Editor          : Lulu Anjarsari P.
PR               : Fauzan Febriyan
Translator     : Yuniar Widiastuti (RA)

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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