Noken Voting System in Deiyai
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The Respondent’s witness Titus Pekei taking oath at a ruling hearing for the 2024 legislative election results dispute of Central Papua Province, Monday (5/27/2024). Photo by MKRI/Bayu.


JAKARTA (MKRI) — The Constitutional Court (MK) held an evidentiary hearing over the 2024 DPRD (Regional Legislative Council) election results dispute petitioned by Golkar (Party of Functional Groups) for the electoral districts of Deiyai Regency 2 and 3 in Central Papua Province. The case No. 19-01-04-36/PHPU.DPR-DPRD-XXII/2024 was presided over by Constitutional Justices Arief Hidayat (panel chair), Anwar Usman, and Enny Nurbaningsih on Panel 3 on Monday, May 27, 2024.

The session was to hear witness/expert testimonies and examine or verify additional evidence. The hearing was attended by the Petitioner (Golkar), the Respondent (General Elections Commission/KPU), Relevant Party (National Awakening Party/PKB), and Bawaslu (Elections Supervisory Body).

Golkar’s Witnesses

At the hearing, the Petitioner presented five witnesses: Mardinan Adii, Melison Adii, Melkias, Yulius Edowai, and Daud Edowai. At that time, Mardinan Adii was the Petitioner’s witness during voting in Kokobaya Village and was in East Tigi District in Deiyai. He explained that the ikat agreement was carried out in Kokobaya Village. From the ikat system, Simon Edowai from Golkar obtained 2,361 votes from 5 villages, as recorded in the C-Result form. However, the 1,453 votes shown in the district election committee (PPD) plenary tally in Deiyai Regency did not match the number of votes from the ikat agreement.

The petitioner’s second witness Malison Adii is the head of the village polling station (PPS Kampung), who has now been dismissed by the KPU. He testified that the number of Golkar’s votes in Damabagata Village, East Tigi was 654 from 6 polling stations, while PKB received 500 votes.

The Petitioner’s third witness Melkias is the head of Waita Village. He explained the implementation of the noken system in the election in Waita Village.

“The noken system in Waita Village was held in one place. In Waita Village, there are two legislative candidates. Because both candidates are Waita natives, we waited for the results of the ikat/noken system from other villages first. Whoever got the most votes, [all votes] would be given to that person. However, the two names did not get any votes from other villages, so there was a commotion,” Melkias explained.

Witness Yulius Edowai was a member of the Tenedagi Village KPPS (polling station working committee) who has quit the KPU. He stated that at the beginning of the agreement, the votes from Tenedagi would be given by the PPD (district election committee) to the election winner. However, the 1,622 votes from the ikat system were not handed over to Golkar, which emerged as the winner.

The next witness Daud Edowai said that the 1,622 votes from the ikat system that should have gone to Golkar were eventually given to the PKB candidate.

Noken System

Titus Pekei, inventor of the UNESCO-acknowledged noken system, attended the evidentiary hearing as a witness for the KPU. He explained that the essence of the noken system is that each owner of noken can be described in the electoral system, either local, national, or international. This is because the noken is attached to every voter.

“Here as a witness for the Deiyai Regency KPU, I am to explain the noken system in Papua, which refers to the system in Deiyai. In Deiyai, ownership has been acknowledged by the ancestors of Deiyai people. In the context of ownership, the noken will usually lose out against a greater interest. The noken dilemma in the electoral system [is that it] clashes with a greater interest. What must be considered is the vision and mission to agree upon. Is there concrete benefit for Papuans? It must not clash with the interests of the majority. Noken must protect the rights of the Papuan people. The agreed noken results must also be consistent with the C-result form,” Pekei asserted.

The Respondent’s next witness, West Tigi District PPD member Antonius Edowai, testified about the vote dispute between Golkar and PKB. He argued that based on the supervision of the West Tigi District PPD on February 16, during the recapitulation process at the West Tigi District secretariat, it was reported that the C-result form had been seized by Golkar. After the supervision and agreement process, it was determined that all votes would be given to Yasone Dowai. This was recorded in the C-result form.

Also read: Golkar Claims Vote Acquisition in Deiyai Regency 2 and 3

Author              : Siti Rosmalina Nurhayati
Editor                : Nur R.
Translator         : M. Ariva Aswin Bahar, Yuniar W.

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.


Monday, May 27, 2024 | 17:21 WIB 179