Legal counsel Erfandi testifying at the 2024 regional election results dispute hearing for case No. 64/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025 Deputy Chief Justice Saldi Isra and Constitutional Justices Ridwan Mansyur and Arsul Sani on panel 2, Wednesday (1/8/2025). Photo by MKRI/Teguh.

---

JAKARTA (MKRI) – Banjar Regency Candidate Pair 02 Syaifullah Tamliha dan Habib Ahmad Bahasyim (Petitioners) argued there had been alleged authority abuse and misappropriation of programs and activities by Candidate Pair 01 Saidi Mansyur dan Said Idrus. They suspected Saidi Mansyur as the incumbent regent had conducted a covert campaign in the 2024 Banjar regency election by attaching the word “MANIS”—the pair’s campaign tagline or slogan—and his personal image as an incumbent to government facilities.

“Whereas in the amendment to the Banjar Regency regional revenue and expenditure budget (APBD) No. 9 of 2024, there were many programs related to Candidate Pair 01 having the MANIS tagline, many of which were inserted and executed ahead of the implementation of the Banjar regency regional election,” said the Petitioners’ legal counsel Erfandi at the preliminary hearing on Wednesday, January 8, 2025 in one of the Constitutional Court’s (MK) panel courtrooms. The hearing for Case No. 64/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025 was presided over by Deputy Chief Justice Saldi Isra (panel chair) and Constitutional Justices Ridwan Mansyur and Arsul Sani on panel 2.

Erfandi said that the amendment to the regional budget included, among others, an increase in the early childhood education (PAUD) budget in which the wife of Candidate Pair 01, Nurgita Tiyas, serves as the chair, which is not seen in the local education department budget. In addition, there was an increase in the mass medical treatment budget carried out during the campaign period, from Rp1.25 billion to Rp1.65 billion, and an increase in the social assistance budget from Rp2.64 billion to Rp3.64 billion, most of which was spent prior to the election.

According to the Petitioners, the vote acquisition announced by the Banjar KPU (Elections Commission) declaring Candidate Pair 01 Saidi Mansyur-Said Idrus to win 226,746 votes and Candidate Pair 02 Syaifullah Tamliha-Habib Ahmad Bahasyim to win 43,696 votes were rife with structured, systematic, and massive (TSM) violations. The Petitioners also alleged that, in addition to the authority abuse, there were violations committed by the Banjar KPU (Respondent), who never held a plenary meeting to finalize the final voters list (DPT) with the Petitioners as participants in the regency election.

The Banjar KPU was also accused of being partial and having abused the final voters list in favor of Candidate Pair 01. As a result, many voted not in accordance with the addresses listed in their family cards (KK) or identity cards (KTP). According to the Petitioners, the Banjar KPU had deliberately omitted the voters data update submitted by the committees from the neighborhood and community units (RT, RW). On the election day, many voters were not recorded in the final list and ultimately could not exercise their right to vote. Subsequently, it was discovered that many deceased people’s names were used by other people to vote and many underaged people were able to vote because their names were on the final voters list.

The violations continued well after the election day, said the Petitioners. The objections from their witnesses to the vote count at the polling stations until the vote recapitulation at the district and village levels were not followed by an issuance of special incident reports containing the witnesses’ grounds for refusal to sign the form.

In their petitums, the Petitioners requested that the Court annul the KPU Decree No.2152 of 2024 on the certification of the 2024 regent election results dated December 4, 2024. They also petitioned that the Court disqualify Candidate Pair 01 from the election or to instruct the Banjar KPU to conduct a revote at all of the polling stations in the regency.

Also read: Case No. 64/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025

Author            : Sri Pujianti
Editor              : N. Rosi
Translators     : M. Hafidh Al Mukmin/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.

---