The Respondent's legal counsel Asep Alamsyah at the examination hearing for the 2024 Banggai Islands regent election result dispute for case No. 109/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025 to hear the Respondent, the Relevant Party, and Bawaslu, Friday (1/24/2025). Photo by MKRI/Bayu

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JAKARTA (MKRI) – As the Respondent, the Banggai Islands Elections Commission (KPU) provided clarification on the allegations of violations filed by Candidate Pair 4 Sugianto and Hery Ludong (Petitioners) on the 2024 regent election results dispute case on Friday, January 24, 2025. In the examination hearing for Case No. 109/PHPU.GUB-XXIII/2025, the Respondent affirmed that all stages of the election, including the registration of candidate pairs and medical check-ups, had been implemented in accordance with the applicable regulations without any violations reported by the related parties.

In the hearing chaired by Constitutional Justice Arief Hidayat, legal counsel Asep Alamsyah on behalf of the Respondent stated the Petitioners’ arguments of violations were stretching the point. In addition, the Respondent explained that the arguments were unfounded and legally groundless. The Petitioners did not elaborate on the details regarding the place of occurrence (locus), the origin of the vote difference, as well as the basis of their legal considerations, Asep continued. The Respondent deemed the Petitioners to be only elaborating one issue based on their own assumptions or suspicions. "There was no recommendation or advice on improvement from Bawaslu," stated Asep.

The Respondent also denied the Petitioners’ witness who alleged the ballot boxes had not been sealed. In the preliminary hearing, the Petitioners had mentioned a witness named Winter Husdi Latt claiming to have witnessed unsealed ballot boxes stored in the Polling Station Secretariat of Kalumbatan Village. “In fact, Winter Husdi Latta did not witness, did not see, and was not at the Polling Station Secretariat of Kalumbatan Village,” Asep denied.

Asep also noted that all documents had been signed by the Petitioners’ witnesses, save for some witnesses at the regency level who refused to sign. “One of the reasons for the absence of their signatures was the low voter turnout. In Banggai Islands, the voter turnout reached 78.68 percent, while in the presidential election [the voter turnout] reached 82 percent, and in the 2020 elections only 74 percent," Asep revealed.

State Facilities Abuse Denied

Meanwhile, Regent Candidate Pair 1 Rusli Moidady and Serfi Kambey (Relevant Party) through their legal counsel Amir Fauzi clarified the allegations of using state facilities in the campaign. The Relevant Party denied the allegations and insisted that in the second leg of the campaign, the pair initially were scheduled to do blusukan or impromptu visits to the home residences in some villages in North Tinangkung District. The activity differed to their first leg of campaign, which involved face-to-face meetings.

When the Relevant Party arrived at Ponding-Ponding Village, they found that most of the residents to be visited were in the public meeting hall (BPU) of the village, in which the members of the Central Sulawesi Provincial Legislative Council on recess met their constituents.

"Afterwards, the Relevant Party and the [campaign] team went to the location with the intention to greet the residents after the activity ended. When the DPRD members learned of the presence of the Relevant Party, they spontaneously invited them to enter the venue. However, the Relevant Party did not campaign there at all. At the time, there was a question to members of the Central Sulawesi Provincial DPRD about the regency authority and development of infrastructure. The DPRD members then invited the Relevant Party to answer the question, considering their history as former regional secretary and former head of the office of public works. The explanation of the Relevant Party was technical and cannot be categorized as political promises or campaigns,” Amir explained.

Furthermore, Amir noted that the head of the Petitioners’ campaign team alerted the Banggai Islands Bawaslu regarding the allegation. In response to the report, the Bawaslu conducted an examination of all parties, including the members of the Provincial DPRD. The investigation was carried out by the Integrated Law Enforcement (Gakkumdu), consisting of the members of Bawaslu, the Police, and the Prosecution. The investigation concluded that there was not enough evidence to classify the event as a campaign, so the issue was declared to be over. Based on a notification letter issued by the Chairperson of the Banggai Islands Bawaslu dated November 25, 2024, the report could not be followed up because it did not meet the elements of election crime violations.

“From the explanation above, it is proven that the Petitioners’ argument in their petition accusing ‘That the Banggai Islands Bawaslu disregarded Candidate Pair 1 who used state facilities in the campaign with the help of members of the members of the Central Sulawesi Provincial DPRD’ is unfounded and not in accordance with the law. Therefore, it is proven that the Respondent and the Relevant Party did not violate the provisions of Article 57 paragraph (1) letter h of General Elections Commission (KPU) Regulation No. 13 of 2015, and Article 69 letter h of Law No. 8 of 2024 and Article 71 paragraph (1) of Law No. 10 of 2016, as outlined in the Petitioner’s petition on page 10,” Amir said.

Another incident rebutted by the Relevant Party is the visit to the Banggai Islands Protestant Church in Indonesia (GPIBK) Ekklesia on November 4, 2024, which they affirmed as not a campaign. The Relevant Party also ensured that the election process went smoothly and in accordance with the provisions of the law and that the campaign, public debate, and vote recapitulation stages had been done transparently.

Criminal Elements Not Fulfilled

The Banggai Islands Bawaslu delivered its statement at the hearing. On behalf of the Bawaslu, Kuswandi A Padjani reported that upon clarification, study, and investigation with the Integrated Law Enforcement (Gakkumdu), the allegation of state facility abuse did not merit follow-up actions. The similar applies to the report on the use of place of worship, on which the Bawaslu examined and declared to not fulfill the elements.

Also read: Discrimination, Use of State Facilities in Banggai Islands Election Questioned

The case had been originally petitioned by Regent Candidate Pair 4 Sugianto and Hery Ludong. The Petitioners’ legal counsel Harli Muin explained that the polling station working committee (KPPS) had not allowed voters supporting the Petitioners to exercise their voting rights because they did not bring their ID cards. Meanwhile, the KPPS at other polling stations allowed voters supporting Candidate Pair 01 Rusli Moidadi-Serfi Kambey to cast their vote even though they did not bring their ID cards and population biodata. The Petitioners also stated that Rusli Moidadi and Serfi Kambey had utilized state facilities in their campaign with the assistance of members of the Central Sulawesi Provincial Legislative Council (DPRD).

In their petitums, the Petitioners requested the Court to annul the Banggai Islands KPU (Elections Commission) Decree No. 683 of 2024 on the certification of the 2024 regent election candidate pairs, dated September 22, 2024, particularly concerning Candidate Pair Rusli Moidadi and Serfi Kambey. The Petitioners further requested that the KPU of Banggai Islands immediately conduct a revote across the entire regency and exclude Candidate Pair 01 from the process.

Author : Utami Argawati

Editor : Lulu Anjarsari P.

PR : Tiara Agustina

Translator : M. Hafidh Al Mukmin/FS

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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