Agusni from Bawaslu providing testimony at the examination hearing for the 2024 Bireuen regent election result dispute for case No. 12/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025 to hear the Respondent, the Relevant Party, and Bawaslu, Friday (1/31/2025). Photo by MKRI/Teguh.

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JAKARTA (MKRI) — As the Respondent, the Bireuen Regency Independent Elections Commission (KIP) denied the arguments of the petition of case No. 12/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025. The commission denied having recruited the district election committee (PPK) and polling station committee (PPS) from the inner circle of Candidate Pair 3 Mukhlis–Razuardi (Relevant Party). The Respondent insisted on having carried out the entire recruitment stages of the ad hoc committee in accordance with the applicable General Elections Commission (KPU) Regulation.

"There were no findings by the Election Supervisory Body (Bawaslu), nor recommendations, either findings from investigations, discovery, and or from the people, all of them were cleared," argued Asman Siagian, the Respondent's legal counsel in the examination hearing on Friday, January 31, 2025.

Asman explained that the Respondent had referred to the KPU Regulation No. 6 of 2022 on the Establishment and Working Procedure of the Ad Hoc Committees of the Regional Election Organizer, KPU Decree No. 638 of 2024 on the Technical Guidelines of the Establishment of the Ad Hoc Committees of the Regional Election Organizer, and KPU Decree No. 476 on the Establishment Methods of PPK and PPS in the 2024 Regional Election Organization.

The Respondent reported that through the conclusion of the recruitment process, there wasn't any significant issue either found by the KIP itself or filed by the community. They also stated to have not received any recommendations from the election supervisory committee (Panwaslih) or the Bawaslu regarding the matter.

Furthermore, the Respondent believes that the Petitioners had not explicitly detailed the violation categories, the stages in which they were committed, the victims, and the forms of impact deemed to benefit the Relevant Party. If the allegations had been true, the Petitioners should have gone to the Election Organizers Ethics Council (DKPP)

"However, the Respondent had never been reported. Thus, those alleged by the Petitioners are completely untrue and fabricated," Asman defended.

The Petitioners had previously alleged the Respondent of violating the regulations of the Quran reading test for candidates, resulting in the lack of loudspeakers as had been collectively agreed among the representatives of the candidate pair. Yet, the Respondent argued that the use of loudspeakers were not set forth in the Aceh KIP Decree No. 21 of 2024 on the Technical Guidelines for the Quran Reading Test in the 2024 Regional Election.

In the hearing, the Relevant Party also denied the structured, systematic, and massive violations. While the Petitioners alleged vote buying in eight districts in the regency, the Relevant Party argued that they did not elaborate the locations, perpetrators, recipients, amount of the money distribution and whether the indication had been reported to the Panwaslih or the Integrated Law Enforcement (Gakkumdu).

"[The Petitioners did not explain] how the court ruled on the money politics allegation, thus the Relevant Party deem that the Petitioners' arguments are legally groundless and should be rejected," asserted Guntur Rambey, the Relevant Party's legal counsel.

On the other hand, Desi Safnita, a member of the Bireuen Panwaslih, stated that the committee received a report on the indication of ethical conduct violations committed by the Bireuen KIP at the second public debate. The Panwaslih then issued a status report which in essence stated that the report satisfied the elements of the violation of the election organizer's code of ethics and merited follow-up by the DKPP.

"Until the moment of the drafting of this written statement, there has not been any information about the follow-up actions by the DKPP", Desi reported before the panel 2 presided over by Deputy Chief Justice Saldi Isra and Constitutional Justices Ridwan Mansyur and Arsul Sani.

Chairman of the Bireuen Election Supervisory Body (Bawaslu) confirmed that the body had received indications of vote buying and forwarded them to the Bireuen Regency Police. The Bireuen District Court then ruled a verdict and sentenced the defendant to 12 months in prison. However, the judge waived the sentence unless the defendant is convicted with another criminal act within the probation of 24 months.

Also read: KIP of Bireuen Regency Accused of Recruiting Election Committee from Mukhlis-Razuardi's Inner Circle

In the preliminary hearing, Candidate Pair 1 Murdani Yusuf–Abdul Muhaimin (Petitioners) argued the Respondent's violations could significantly affect the vote acquisition for the Bireuen Regent Election. Based on the Decision of the Aceh Independent Election Commission (KIP) of Bireuen Regency Number 3979 of 2024 on the certification of the 2024 election results, the votes certified for Candidate Pair 1 Murdani Yusuf-Abdul Muhaimin was 71,296 votes, Candidate Pair 2 Husaini M Amin-Husaini 26,919 votes, and Candidate Pair 3 Mukhlis-Razuardi 122,898 votes. The Petitioners requested the Court to annul the decision of the Bireuen KIP as long as it pertains to the results in Peusangan, South Peusangan, Juli, Jangka, Gandapura, Makmur, Kota Juang, and Jeumpa Districts; declare the vote won by Candidate Pair 3 invalid and void; and order the Bireuen KIP to conduct a revote in the eight districts.

Author : Mimi Kartika
Editor   : Lulu Anjarsari P.

PR : Fauzan Febriyan
Translator     : M. Hafidh Al Mukmin/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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