The Respondent’s legal counsel Irfan Idham (left) at the examination hearing for the 2024 Pasangkayu regent election case No. 72/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025 to hear the Respondent, the Relevant Party, and Bawaslu, Tuesday (1/21/2025). Photo by MKRI/Bayu.

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JAKARTA (MKRI) — The Constitutional Court (MK) held an examination hearing to hear the Respondent’s response and testimonies by the Relevant Party and Bawaslu (Elections Supervisory Body) and to validate evidence of the Parties on Tuesday, January 21, 2025. In the hearing for Case No. 72/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025 held in panel 3 courtroom, the Pasangkayu Regency Elections Commission/KPU (Respondent) delivered their response to the Petitioners’ petition and insisted that they have conducted all stages of the election in accordance with the applicable laws and regulation.

Lembaga Pemantau Gerak Langkah Indonesia (Indonesian Progression Monitoring Institute) as the Petitioners had objected to the Pasangkayu KPU Decree No. 758 of 2024 on the certification of the 2024 regent election results dated December 4, 2024. The Petitioners alleged systematic, structured, and massive (TSM) violations starting from abuse of authority, misappropriation of government budget and programs, and the involvement of the regency government officials.

“The Respondent had carried out all the stages starting from nomination, candidate pair certification, to the vote count recapitulation according to the applicable regulations,” stated Irfan Idham, the Respondent’s legal counsel in response to the argument of the petition.

In response to the use of the color maroon in the uniform of the election organizers, the Pasangkayu KPU explained that the color is an official color regulated in a circular letter of the General Elections Commission of the Republic of Indonesia. Thus, they denied the allegation and stated that the uniform could not be interpreted as a form of political partiality.

“Establishing a certain color such as red does not mean expressing partiality, since colors have various meanings in various contexts,” Irfan added.

Furthermore, the Respondent mentioned that all the officers of the polling station working committee (KPPU) had been sworn in under oath in accordance with the KPU Regulation No. 8 of 2022. They also asserted that they did not require any specific attributes such as black prayer caps and red hijabs in the KPPS inauguration. Hence, they found the allegations to be unfounded.

As for the allegation on the obstruction of supervision functions, the Pasangkayu KPU argued that all of the reports had been followed up and clarified by the Pasangkayu Bawaslu. Therefore, they believe that the Petitioners’ arguments on the obstruction of supervision must be dismissed.

The Respondent thus requested the Court to reject the Petitioners’ petition in its entirety because it was not factual nor legally grounded.

At the hearing chaired by Constitutional Justice Arief Hidayat, the Relevant Party and Bawaslu also delivered statements on the dispute. On behalf of Yaumil Ambo Djiwa-Herny (Relevant Party), legal counsel Misbahuddin Gasma expressly denied the entirety of the Petitioners’ arguments and allegations, especially those related to social assistance distribution.

“After inspection and clarification, a fact was found that the distribution of social assistance by two village heads was conducted, according to their testimony, that the distribution had been approved beforehand according to the predetermined schedule. If the social assistance were not immediately distributed, that would potentially cause an issue in the future, such as findings by an inspecting party who sees the indication of ‘intentionally withholding’ assistance that should have been delivered on time,” Misbahuddin asserted.

The Pasangkayu Bawaslu chairperson Harlywood Suly Junior revealed there had been 12 reports, and two findings related to the election. Out of those, five were indicated to be election crimes and two were ruled as crime by the court.

“One of the most prominent cases was the involvement of a district head who abused state facilities in the election, ending with a High Court ruling, which sentenced the district head to one month in prison,” Harlywood explained.

Moreover, there were two reports escalated to the provincial level, one of which listed a candidate Yaumil and his team—the previously mentioned district head included. Meanwhile, a report tying a candidate was escalated to the regency level and handed over to be processed by the Integrated Law Enforcement (Gakkumdu).

At the preliminary hearing, the Petitioners had highlighted the fact that 1 (one) candidate pair ran in regency election. Thus, Candidate Pair Yaumil Ambo Djiwa and Herny went against a blank vote—an alternative choice meaning the voters’ rejection of the sole candidate pair.

Author               : Utami Argawati
Editor                : Tiara Agustina
Translator         : M. Hafidh Al Mukmin/Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)

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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