The Relevant Party’s legal counsel Raden Lianin Afrianty at the 2024 regional election results dispute hearing for case No. 64/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025 before Deputy Chief Justice Saldi Isra and Constitutional Justices Ridwan Mansyur and Arsul Sani on panel 2, Friday (1/17/2025). Photo by MKRI/Teguh.

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JAKARTA (MKRI) — Regent Candidate Pair 1 Saidi Mansyur-Said Idrus as the Relevant Party denied having abused authority and misappropriated programs and activities during their campaign. Their testimony was given on Friday, January 17, 2024 in response to the Petitioners’ arguments in Case No. 64/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025 on the 2024 Banjar regent election results dispute in the Constitutional Court (MK).

In the examination to hear the responses from the Respondent, the Relevant Party, and the Elections Supervisory Body (Bawaslu), the Relevant Party’s legal counsel Yusuf Ramadhan said, “The Petitioners’ petition alleging that Candidate Pair 1 had committed structured, systematic, and massive (TSM) violations in the implementation of ‘MANIS’ program using the funding from the amendment to the 2024 regional budget is unfounded, groundless, and speculative.”

The Relevant Party claimed the “MANIS” program was a tagline or slogan that had been used in the campaign of one of the candidate pairs in the previous election. They also insisted that they had not abused the regional government budget to achieve victory in the election. The drafting of the regional budget and the amendments thereto was made based on development priorities and mutual agreements between the executive and legislative branches.

The Petitioners had previously accused Saidi Mansyur as the incumbent regent of conducting 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. They also suspected 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.

Banjar Regency KPU Denies Petition

At the hearing, the Banjar Regency KPU (Respondent) denied the petition’s argument that they had failed to conduct a plenary meeting on the certification of the final voters list (DPT). They claimed to have shown the DPT to the Petitioners according to the provisions of the law.

“We have submitted, followed the provisions of the laws and regulations, and delivered [the DPT] to the Petitioners’ witnesses,” said Liani Afrianty, the Respondent’s legal counsel, before Deputy Chief Justice Saldi Isra (panel chair) and Constitutional Justices Ridwan Mansyur and Arsul Sani on panel 2.

The Respondent also claimed that there had been no objection from the Petitioners during the vote count recapitulation at any of the 1,101 polling stations in Banjar Regency. The Petitioners’ witnesses were said to have signed the recapitulation forms at all polling stations.

Both the Respondent and the Relevant Party denied the entire arguments delivered by the Petitioners. Thus, they requested that the Court reject the petition in its entirety.

Banjar Regency Bawaslu Testifies

A member of Banjar Regency Bawaslu (Elections Supervisory Body), Ramliannoor, testified that the body has followed up on two reports they received and another delegated by the South Kalimantan Provincial Bawaslu. The three reports pertained to the use of ‘MANIS’ tagline, the violation of Article 7 paragraph (2) of the Election Law related to the appointment of government officials six months prior to the certification of candidacy through the end of office term, and the violation of Article 7 paragraph (3) related to the prohibition of abuse of authority and misappropriation of programs and activities.

“We have taken follow-up actions and due processes according to Bawaslu regulations. We have done studies and analyses, yet the evidence and witnesses submitted by the complainant did not meet the required elements, therefore we could not accept their complaints,” Ramliannoor explained.

He argued that the third report had been received and processed in the Integrated Law Enforcement (Gakkumdu), but was nor proven either since Bawaslu deemed it only fulfilling one element—legal subject—out of the five elements of violation provisioned in Article 71 paragraph (1) in conjunction with Article 188 of Regional Election Law.

Also read: Tamliha-Habib Accuse Banjar Incumbent Regent of Authority Abuse

At the preliminary hearing, 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            : Mimi Kartika
Editor            : N. Rosi
Translators     : M. Hafidh Al Mukmin/Yuniar Widiastuti (NL) (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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