Chaotic Noken System Election in Central Papua

Prof. Dr. Aswanto, S.H., M.Si., DFM., took an oath as an expert during a hearing for the 2024 legislative election results dispute of Central Papua Province at the Constitutional Court (MK) on Monday (27/5/2024). Photo by MKRI/Bayu

JAKARTA (MKRI) – The Constitutional Court (MK) continued a hearing for the 2024 legislative election results dispute for case No. 82-01-12-36/PHPU.DPR-DPRD-XXII/2024 on Monday, May 27, 2024. The case was petitioned by the National Mandate Party (PAN) for the electoral district of Central Papua Province and presided over by Constitutional Justices Arief Hidayat (panel chair), Anwar Usman, and Enny Nurbaningsih on panel 3. The hearing to hear testimonies by experts and witnesses was attended by PAN as the Petitioner, the General Election Commission (KPU) and Elections Supervisory Body (Bawaslu) as the Respondents, and the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) as the Relevant Party.

Chaotic Noken System

The Petitioner presented Aswanto, a lecturer at the Faculty of Law, Hasanuddin University, as an expert. He explained the noken system, or tie system, stating that the Court recognizes the legitimacy of this system.

Aswanto continued, explaining that what was questioned in this case was the vote acquisition obtained through the noken system, which the Petitioner claimed had been changed or eliminated. He noted that information available on social media about the chaotic election process was a key reason for him to provide his expert opinion before the panel of justices.

“I tried to trace the noken system from various literatures, the origin of noken is a bag made by native Papuan women who have grown up. Then transformed into one of the ways in the election. But in its implementation, the noken system is confused with the term tie. Actually the philosophy of tie and the noken system is different. The noken system is done by gathering the community and putting their votes into a bag. Meanwhile, the tie system is carried out by deliberation in which the customary leader represents the community's voice to elect a pair/candidate leader,” said Aswanto, Deputy Chief Justice of the Court for the period April 2, 2018- October 2, 2020.

According to Aswanto, there are no specific restrictions regarding the proper implementation of the noken system in any place. Research indicates that this system is recognized and constitutional, as it is deemed the most realistic approach to prevent conflict and disintegration and is part of the customs of the people of Central Papua. However, the system faces numerous problems, as it can lead to money politics and manipulation by political elites.

“I am sure KPU members understand that in Papua many use the noken system which is not counted at the polling station (TPS) level but directly to the district level or the regency and city levels. If we want to be honest, all elections in Papua with the noken system must be canceled because all votes are not counted at the TPS level, but directly recapitulated at the district level, this is contrary to the system of order,” said Aswanto

During the hearing, all parties presented witnesses who would testify before the panel of justices. Petitioner's witnesses were Feryana Wakerkwa, Ekinus Tabuni, Josia Magai, Arius Tabuni and Yames Murib. Respondent's witnesses were Melianus Agapa, Fransiskus Butu, Natalius Tabuni, and Nolianus Kobogau. The Relevant Party’s witnesses were Walterus Belau, Diben Elaby, Victor Yohanes Belau, and Alpons Belau.

Feryana Wakerkwa, a mandated witness from the Petitioner’s Party at the district-level plenary, testified that the plenary session was moved to Nabire Regency on March 9, 2024. The plenary included 13 districts.

“Puncak Regency is one of the users of the Noken System. As a mandated witness, I signed the recapitulation document. In the plenary, I filed an objection/protest not related to PAN votes because at that time PAN votes were still there. I filed a protest regarding the DPR RI (House of Representatives) candidate whose votes had not been distributed. The PAN votes at that time were 23,548 votes for the entire Puncak Regency,” he explained.

The second Petitioner’s witness was Ekinus Tabuni, former district election committee (PPD) of Puncak Regency. Ekinus was fired by the KPU from his position as chairman of the PPD. The vote acquisition according to the witness was 788 votes for the PAN, 1,907 for the National Democratic Party (NasDem).

The third Petitioner’s witness was Yosia Magai from Gome District. He told the Court about the dismissal of PPD. Yosia Magai was one of the PPD members who was fired by the KPU without reasonable reasons. However, according to the KPU, all PPD members were fired because they did not follow/neglect to follow the schedule so the work of D-results was continued/taken over by the KPU.

The Petitioner's other witness, Arius Tabuni, testified that he was also fired by the KPU and declared negligent in his work. Yames gave the same testimony that all PPD were fired without clear and reasonable reasons. Yames added that the election went smoothly, there were no riots and problems.

The Petitioner’s last witness was Yames Murib, former chairman of the PPD. He testified that the votes for PAN existed up to D-result form . Votes for PAN were declared missing at the regency level.

Relevant Party’s witness, Walterius Belau, was a chairman of the customary council of Central Papua Province. In the election, he did not have a position as a witness. According to him, institutionally, customary council has structures at the village, district and regency levels. The customary council of one village cannot testify/vote on behalf of the entire village.

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Chaotic Noken System Election in Central Papua