The Respondent’s legal counsel Aulia Nugraha S. Ashary testifying at the examination hearing for Case No. 308/PHPU.GUB-XXIII/2025 concerning the Central Papua gubernatorial election results dispute, Friday (1/31/2025). Photo by MKRI/Ifa.

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JAKARTA (MKRI) — The examination hearing for Case No. 308/PHPU.GUB-XXIII/2025 concerning the 2024 Central Papua gubernatorial election results dispute mainly discusses money politics allegations. The hearing was presided over by Chief Justice Suhartoyo (panel chair) and Constitutional Justices Foekh, and M. Guntur Hamzah on panel 1 to hear the Respondent, the Relevant Party, and to approve the parties’ evidence on Friday, January 31, 2025.

The petition was filed by Candidate Pair 02 Natalis Tabuni-Titus Natkime. Meanwhile, the Central Papua Province KPU (Elections Commission) is the Respondent and Candidate Pair 03 Meki Nawipa-Deinas Geley is the Relevant Party.

The Respondent asserted that they had never received any recommendation from Central Papua Bawaslu (Elections Supervisory Body) concerning vote buying in numerous regencies, which the Petitioners alleged.

“Until the issuance of the Central Papua Province KPU Decree No. 461 of 2024 dated December 16, 2024, there was no recommendation from the Central Papua Provincial Bawaslu regarding the violations the Petitioners reported to the Respondent,” said the Respondent’s legal counsel Rezky Panji Perdana Martua Hasibuan.

The Respondent ensured that the other candidate pairs, had signed the minutes and certificate of vote count results, which the Petitioners requested to be annulled. Thus, the majority of the candidate pairs were considered by the Respondent to have agreed to the vote acquisition in the 2024 Central Papua gubernatorial election.

“Witnesses for Candidate Pairs 1, 3, and 4 signed the minutes, which confirms the results of the implementation or votes acquisition as stated in KPU Decree No. 461 of 2024,” Hasibuan said.

Thus, in their petitum, the Respondent requested that the Court affirm the validity of the Central Papua KPU Decree No. 416 of 2024 concerning the certification of the 2024 Central Papua gubernatorial election results.

Meanwhile, the Relevant Party as the election winner also refuted the Petitioners’ argument that Rp23 billion was used for vote buying in Puncak Jaya Regency to manipulate the noken* voting results.

“The Relevant Party has never ordered or requested the PPD (district election committee) to change the noken vote acquisition or the agreement that has occurred at the polling stations in the villages in Puncak Jaya Regency,” wrote the Relevant Party in their testimony.

They also firmly denied the allegation of a Rp200 million bribery in Paniai Regency. They stated that the funds were intended to secure the chaotic plenary meeting of the vote recapitulation. They also stated that it was stipulated in DKPP (Election Organizer Ethics Council) Decree No. 33-PKE-DKPP/I/2025.

“The verdict is that they were given a warning sanction because using personal money is not permitted by law even for securing the chaotic recapitulation plenary in Paniai,” said the Relevant Party’s legal counsel Hardian Tuasamu.

Meanwhile, the Central Papua Provincial Bawaslu stated that they had issued one recommendation during the 2024 Central Papua gubernatorial election process, where they verified the vote count in Puncak Regency. It was issued following a report from the Relevant Party regarding alleged vote reduction.

“The recommendation was for the Provincial KPU to verify or revise the votes regarding the reduction of the governor [candidates’] votes in Puncak Regency. However, the KPU did not pursue it further,” said Central Papua Bawaslu Member Yonas Yanampa.

Additionally, the Central Papua Bawaslu received a total of 22 reports during the 2024 gubernatorial election. However, only one report was followed up, while the others were not processed as they were deemed not to meet the formal requirements.

“[Those were not processed] because the reported party’s identity and so on were not completed,” Yanampa revealed.

Also read: Money Politics in Central Papua Noken System Highlighted

In the petitums, the Petitioners claimed that vote buying in the Central Papua gubernatorial election through financial contributions from the Relevant Party to the PPD in Deiyai Regency. These included Rp700 million in West Tigi, Rp600 million in East Digi, Rp500 million in Kapiraya, Rp750 million in Tigi, and Rp500 million in Bodokapa. Additionally, in Puncak Jaya Regency, the Petitioners alleged that the head of a district political party had distributed Rp23 billion to manipulate the vote count under the noken system.

The Petitioners argued that vote changes occurred in many polling stations across Intan Jaya, Puncak, Puncak Jaya, Dogiyai, Paniai, and Deiyai Regencies where the noken system is used. They also believed that some votes had been purged during the recapitulation process at the regency level. In particular, they alleged that in Paniai, riots had broken out due to attempts to annul or alter the noken agreement.

The Central Papua gubernatorial election results dispute petitions were also submitted by two other candidate pairs, Candidate Pair 4 Willem Wandik-Aloisius Giyai with Case No. 295/PHPU.GUB-XXIII/2025 and Candidate Pair 01 Wempi Wetipo-Agustinus Anggaibak with Case No. 309/PHPU.GUB-XXIII/2025.

(*) The noken voting system is carried out by communities in Papua, either through public agreement on vote allocation or through the delegation of votes to a tribal leader.

Also read:

Petition for Case No. 308/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025
Response by the Respondent
Statement by Bawaslu
Statement by the Relevant Party

Author            : Ashri Fadilla
Editor             : N. Rosi
Translator      : Syifa Amelia/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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