The Parties confirming the evidence of fake diploma for case No. 174/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025 on Selayar regency election results dispute, Tuesday, (1/21/2025) in panel 3 courtroom. Photo by MKRI/Bayu

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JAKARTA (MKRI) — The Selayar Regency Election Commission (KPU) as the Respondent denied the argument of candidate pair 2 (Ady Ansar and M. Suwadi) who challenged the diploma validity of candidate pair 1, Muhammad Natsir Ali. The Respondent’s legal counsel Subhan confirmed that the Selayar KPU properly conducted their duties from the registration until the candidate announcement following the KPU regulation No. 8 of 2024 on the candidacy of governor-vice governor, regent-vice regent, and mayor-vice mayor.

The response was delivered in the hearing which included the Respondent’s response and testimonies by the Relevant Party and Elections Supervisory Body (Bawaslu), and the validation of evidence on case No. 189/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025. Constitutional Justice Arief Hidayat presided over the hearing, accompanied by Justices Anwar Usman and Enny Nurbaningsih on Tuesday, January 21, 2025, in panel 3 courtroom. Subhan continues, stating that Selayar Regency KPU also verified all documents of candidate pairs, including those of regent candidate 1, Muhammad Natsir Ali.

“The Respondent expressly denied the argument because, on September 9, 2024, the Respondent verified [the documents] with the authorized agency, which in this case is the South Sulawesi Education Office,” explained Subhan.

Selayar Islands Regency KPU also invited Selayar Islands Regency Election Supervisory Body (Bawaslu) to verify the diploma. Additionally, the Respondent invited the Intelligence Section Head of the Selayar Islands District Attorney's Office and personnel from the Selayar Islands District Police and South Sulawesi Police.

Selayar Regency KPU also denied the petition, stating that the Respondent did not verify the diploma validity of regent candidate 1, Muhammad Natsir Ali. The Respondent visited the board members of Party of Functional Groups (Golkar), who nominated candidate pair 1.

“In that verification attempt, the board member of Golkar party was able to show the original diploma of the regent candidate 1 (H Muhammad Natsir), which we later compared with the certified copy of his high school diploma,” explained Subhan.

Three candidate pairs competed in the Selayar Islands regent election, where candidate pair 1 (Muhammad Natsir Ali-Muhtar) received the most votes with 42,505 votes. However, this candidate pair did not register as the Relevant Party in the case No. 189/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025.

The Selayar Islands Bawaslu head Nurul Badriyah, stated that the Petitioners had reported the allegation on Muhammad Natsir Ali’s fake diploma. However, during their investigation, the Selayar Islands regency KPU had already completed the administrative verification as referred to in the KPU regulation No. 8 of 2024.

“We also conducted verification with the South Sulawesi Education Office, and confirmed the authenticity of H. Muhammad Natsir Ali’s diploma,” emphasized Nurul.

To note, candidate pair 2 Ady Ansar and M. Suwadi (the Petitioners) filed an objection to Muhammad Natsir Ali's candidacy ineligibility, focusing on the validity of his diploma, which indicated graduation from Monginsidi Private High School in 1994.

In addition, there is an inconsistency in the name of a parent listed on Muhammad Natsir Ali's diploma, which was written ‘Muhammad Ali Gaddong’. Upon verification of several documents, it was found that the correct name of one of his parents should be ‘M. Ali Gandong’. The Petitioners further argued that the Respondent failed to verify the validity of Muhammad Natsir Ali’s supporting documents.

Author           : Nawir Arsyad Akbar

Editor            : Fitri Yuliana
PR                 : Tiara Agustina
Translator      : Ryan Alfian/FS (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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