The Petitioners’ legal counsel Vendy Toumahuw the ruling hearing for case No.135/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025 on the 2024 Southwest Maluku regent election results dispute, Tuesday (02/04/2025). Photo by MKRI/Ifa.
JAKARTA (MKRI) — The Constitutional Court (MK) assessed the actual term of office of Benyamin Thomas Noach as Southwest Maluku regent for 2016-2021, starting from April 24, 2019 to April 26, 2021. The total term of office was 2 years and 3 days, or less than half of the supposed term of 2 years and 6 months. This was the Court’s legal considerations read out by Constitutional Justice Ridwan Mansyur at the ruling hearing for case No. 135/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025 regarding the dispute over the 2024 Southwest Maluku regent election results on Tuesday, February 4, 2025.
Candidate Pair Number 01 Hendrik Natalius Christian and Hengky Ricardo A. Pelata (Petitioners) argued that regent candidate Benyamin Thomas Noach did not meet the nomination requirements. According to the Court, he was appointed Southwest Maluku vice regent for period 2016-2021 based on the Decree of the Minister of Home Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia No. 132.81-3486 of 2016 concerning the appointment of vice regent of Southwest Maluku, Maluku Province, dated April 5, 2016.
Based on the Maluku Governor Letter No. 875.1/1257 regarding the appointment of the vice regent of Southwest Maluku, Maluku Province to carry out the daily duties of the regent, dated April 24, 2019, and the Decree of the Minister of Home Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia No. 132.81-1193 of 2019 concerning the ratification of the dismissal of the Southwest Maluku regent, Maluku Province dated May 24, 2019.
Noach then carried out his duties as acting regent of Southwest Maluku, replacing Barnabas Orno, who was elected as vice governor of Maluku for the 2019-2024 term on April 24, 2019. Based on the Decree of the Minister of Home Affairs No. 131.81-1194, Noach was appointed as the definitive regent of Southwest Maluku for the remaining term of 2016-2021.
Noach was elected Southwest Maluku regent as a result of the 2020 election for the 2021-2025 term based on the Decree of the Minister of Home Affairs No.131.81-992 of 2021 dated April 9, 2021 and was inaugurated and took the oath of office on April 26, 2021.
“As for the Petitioners’ argument that Benyamin Thomas Noach has served as acting regent of Southwest Maluku replacing Barnabas, according to the Court, the assignment to replace Barnabas Orno, who was on leave outside the state’s responsibility for campaign purposes and, his return to become vice regent of Southwest Maluku after Barnabas Orno has completed his leave outside the state’s responsibility, was not a condition that can be categorized and counted as a real term of office that has been served due to the permanent absence of the regional head,” said Constitutional Justice Ridwan Mansyur.
The Court was of the opinion that although the Petitioners are a candidate pair in the 2024 Southwest Maluku regent election, they did not fulfill the provisions for filing a petition as referred to in Article 158 paragraph 2 letter a of Law No. 10 of 2016. Therefore, according to the Court, the Petitioners did not have legal standing to file the petition. Thus, the Respondent’s and the Relevant Party’s exceptions that the Petitioners did not have legal standing were legally grounded. As a result, in its ruling, the Court declared the Petitioners’ petition inadmissible.
Also read:
Benyamin Candidacy Challenged Over Two-Term Allegation as Southwest Maluku Regent
Assessing the Term Limits of Benyamin Thomas Noach as Southwest Maluku Regent
At the preliminary hearing on Tuesday, January 14, 2025, the Petitioners argued that the Southwest Maluku Regency Elections Commission (KPU) had failed to conduct administrative and factual verifications of regent candidate Benyamin Thomas Noach, who already served two terms as regent. For this reason, the Petitioners requested the annulment of the Southwest Maluku KPU Decree No. 696 of 2024 on the certification of the 2024 Southwest Maluku regent election results.
The Respondent’s vote acquisition for the candidate pairs was as follows: Candidate Pair 01 Hendrik Natalius Christian-Hengky Ricardo A. Pelata obtained 16,942 votes, Candidate Pair 02 Benyamin Thomas Noach–Agustinus Lekwardai Kilikily obtained 26,940 votes, and Candidate Pair 03 Simon Moshe Maahury–John Johiands Uniplaita obtained 3,811 votes, with a total of 47,693 valid votes.
According to the Petitioners, the Respondent’s action in passing Candidate Number 02 Benyamin as a regent candidate legally violated the provisions of Article 7 paragraph (2) letter n of Law No. 10 of 2016. Therefore, said candidate pair must be disqualified from the 2024 Southwest Maluku regent election.
Also read:
Petition for Case No. 135/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025
Response by the Respondent
Statement by Bawaslu
Statement by the Relevant Party
Relevant Party’s Petitums
Author : Sri Pujianti
Editor : N. Rosi
Translator : Dinita Aktivia/Yuniar Widiastuti (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.
Tuesday, February 04, 2025 | 20:27 WIB 31