The Tangled Thread of Vicente's Nomination as Belu Deputy Regent Candidate

Bernard Leo Odom Tanya (left), and Muhammad Rullyandi (right) when testifying at the hearing of Case No.100/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025 on the 2024 Belu regent election results dispute, Tuesday (2/11/2025) in the Constitutional Courtroom. Photo by MKRI/Bayu

JAKARTA, MKRI - Bernard Leo Odom Tanya, an expert witness for the Petitioners and a lecturer at Nusa Cendana University Faculty of Law, testified during the evidentiary hearing on the 2024 Belu regent election results dispute. The expert highlighted that the implementation of the stipulation stage, up to the vote recapitulation for the Belu Regency regent election, was legally flawed due to the inclusion of Vicente Hornai Gonsalves as the Deputy Regent Candidate Number 1, representing the Relevant Party.

This was conveyed during the evidentiary hearing, which was part of the agenda to hear witness and expert testimony for Case No. 100/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025 on Tuesday, February 11, 2025. The hearing was presided over by Panel 3, chaired by Constitutional Justice Arief Hidayat, with Constitutional Justice Anwar Usman and Constitutional Justice Enny Nurbaningsih.

Bernard mentioned that Vicente Hornai Gonsalves is a former convict of crimes against minors. Candidate Number 1 was charged with Article 332 paragraph 1 of the Criminal Code (KUHP), which relates to the act of fleeing a woman who has not yet reached the age of maturity.

“The crime of the article is known in Dutch as ‘schaking’, which lexically comes from the verb ‘schaken’ which means ‘to steal a girl’,” stated Bernard.

The Petitioners argued that Vicente Hornai Gonsalves did not fulfill the requirements for regional head candidates stipulated in Article 7 paragraphs (1) and (2) of Law No. 10/2016 on the Second Amendment to Law No.r 1/2015 on the stipulation of government regulation in lieu of Law No. 1/2015 on the election of governors, regents, and mayors.

Article 7, paragraph (1) of the Regional Election Law sets out 21 requirements that candidates for regional head positions must fulfill. One of these, stipulated in letter g, essentially states that former convicts are eligible to run in regional head elections (Pilkada), provided they have served their sentence as confirmed by a final and legally binding decision and have publicly disclosed their status as former convicts.

The Elucidation Chapter of Article 7 paragraph (1) letter g of the Regional Election Law explains the definition of ‘former convict’. An ex-convict is a person who no longer has any technical or administrative relationship, except for ex-convicts of drug dealers and convicts of sexual crimes against children.

“The participation of candidate number 1 was invalid from the start, so all stages followed by the pair are also considered invalid and against the law,” said Bernard.

Since the Relevant Party did not meet the eligibility requirements to run in the 2024 Belu regent election, it follows that the decision of the KPU Belu Regency regarding the election winner should be considered null and void. Based on the principle of justice, it would be unfair for the unproblematic candidate pairs to bear the consequences of errors committed by the KPU Belu Regency as the Respondent.

The disqualification of the Relevant Parties is a consequence that the Belu Regency KPU must accept an organizer who passes a candidate who does not meet the requirements. This includes organizing a re-voting (PSU) of the 2024 Belu regent election without including candidate pair number 1.

“The logical consequence for the Respondent is that all decisions of the Respondent starting from the certification of candidate pairs, the certification of serial numbers, up to the decision on the certification of results must be declared void,” stated Bernard.

The Belu Regency KPU’s (the Respondent) expert, Ida Budhiati (a member of the Honorary Board of Election Organisers for the period 2017-2022) stated that the burden of error related to the certification of the Relevant Party cannot be placed on the Belu Regency KPU.

The Belu Regency KPU has basically conducted the stages of certifying candidate pairs in accordance with the provisions of laws and regulations. Vicente Hornai Gonsalves (the Relevant Party) has fulfilled all the requirements for participation in the 2024 Belu regent election, including attaching a Criminal Record Check (SKCK).

If there is an error from the party authorized to issue a Criminal Record Check (SKCK) for Vicente Hornai Gonsalves, it is certainly not the fault of the Belu Regency KPU. Therefore, the Respondent requested the Court to examine the facts.

“The blame cannot be placed on the Respondent Party if the person concerned has taken care of the document file which fills in the option of the statement “Ever Convicted” and what is published is a document that states otherwise has never been convicted,” argues Ida.

“This incident does not need to happen if the institutions authorized the issue documents had published the information with the actual data,” he explained.

He also argues that the Belu Regency KPU had also followed up on the recommendations of the Belu Regency Election Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) regarding the alleged administrative violations and election crimes committed by Vicente Hornai Gonsalves. The Respondent has reviewed and studied the recommendation, but in the end, the Respondent decided to certify the participation of the Relevant Party.

“The Respondent has conducted the nomination stages in accordance with the laws and regulations,” stated Ida.

Not sexual violence against a child

Vicente Hornai Gonsalves, candidate number 1, was involved in a criminal offense in 2023 with a charge of fleeing a woman who had not yet reached the age of maturity and was sentenced to 11 months in prison in January 2004. Yafet Yosafet Wilben Rissy, the Relevant Party’s expert, explained that the case was not a crime of sexual violence against children based on the Atambua District Court Decision No: 186/PID/B/2003/PN.ATB dated January 17, 2004.

The Relevant Party’s expert who is also a professor of the Satya Wacana Christian University of Law (UKSW) said that Vicente Hornai Gonsalves was subject to Article 332 paragraph 1 of the Criminal Code regarding fleeing an underage woman. Candidate number 1 was not charged with Law Number 23 of 2002 concerning Child Protection.

“If you read the decision of the District Court (No.) 186 of 2004, it is clear and I quote in the verdict number three that the defendant Vicente and so on have been proven guilty legally and convincingly of the crime of running away an underage woman without the permission of her parents or guardian, and therefore the defendant is sentenced to 11 months in prison,” stated Yafet.

“So there is no crime of sexual violence committed by the defendant,” he continued.

He continued that in terms of the regulation of Article 332 paragraph 1 of the Criminal Code, running away with underage women is one type of criminal offence of deprivation of liberty. The criminal offences of sexual violence against children such as rape, sexual abuse, and sexual intercourse are regulated in Articles 287 to 295 of the Criminal Code.

“The expert is of the opinion that when compared between Article 332 paragraph 1 and Articles 287 to 295, it is clear that the crime of fleeing away an underage woman is not the same as sexual violence against children. Sexual violence against children is regulated in separate laws, namely the Law on Child Protection and the Law on Sexual Violence,” stated Yafet.

Jailed for Indigenous Law

The Relevant Party’s witness Manuel Da Silva said that Vicente Hornai Gonsalves had a romantic relationship with a woman named Juliana Luisa Tai. Manuel, Vicente Hornai Gonsalves, and Juliana Luisa Tai were former residents of East Timor.

In East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), the tradition of Belis refers to the customary practice of giving a dowry from the man to the woman as part of marriage. However, Manuel noted that the high dowry requirements sometimes lead couples to stage an elopement as a way to gauge the reaction of both families..

This was the case for Vicente Hornai Gonsalves who wanted to marry Juliana Luisa Tai. The parents of both parties did not approve of the relationship, Vicente Hornai Gonsalves could not marry Juliana Luisa Tai and accepted the customary law to be imprisoned.

“The customary law is that if a person is unable to fulfill his customary law because he is afraid of his family, or embarrassed, he must be imprisoned. That's why it's like what Mr Vicente meant because of the customary law, one of the customary laws,” said Manuel.

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The Tangled Thread of Vicente's Nomination as Belu Deputy Regent Candidate