Bawaslu delivering its statement during the hearing of Case Number 319/PHPU.WAKO-XXIII/2025, concerning the Banjarbaru City mayoral election result dispute on Tuesday (5/20/2025). Photo by MKRI/Bayu.
JAKARTA, MKRI – The South Kalimantan Provincial Elections Commission (KPU), acting as the Respondent, denied all allegations presented in the 2024 General Election Results Dispute (PHP) for the Mayor and Deputy Mayor of Banjarbaru City, filed under Case Number 319/PHP.KOT-XXII/2024 by the Petitioner, Udiansyah. This rebuttal was conveyed by Bowie Haraswan during a hearing held on Tuesday (5/20/2025) in the Panel 3 courtroom. The hearing addressed various arguments and objections related to the conduct of the re-voting (PSU) in Banjarbaru City.
The Respondent rejected all arguments presented by the Petitioner. According to the Respondent’s legal counsel, Bowie Haraswan, the petition was deemed vague and obscure. He argued that the Petitioner had incorrectly identified the object of the dispute, which formed the basis of the petition submitted to the Constitutional Court. The Respondent emphasized that there was a discrepancy between the object outlined in the Petitioner’s claim and the actual object in question. In the petitum, the Petitioner requested the annulment of South Kalimantan Provincial KPU Decision Number 69 of 2025 concerning the results of the re-voting, as mandated by the Constitutional Court’s ruling on the 2024 Banjarbaru mayoral election. The Petitioner stated that the decision was announced on Monday, 21 April 2025, but mistakenly referred to the date as 2 December 2024 at 23:30 WITA. In response, the Respondent clarified that the disputed decision was not announced on 2 December 2024, and in fact, the stipulation and announcement were simultaneous, taking place on 21 April 2025 at 23:30 WITA.
“Based on the explanation above, it is clearly proven that the Petitioner has erroneously identified the object of the case (error in objecto), and therefore, it is legally appropriate for the Constitutional Court to reject or at least declare the petition inadmissible,” said Bowie.
Furthermore, the Respondent questioned the legitimacy of the Petitioner's claims, noting that the Petitioner's arguments did not appear to be based on direct personal interests. Although the Petitioner is a registered voter, he presented himself as an election monitoring organization. The Respondent maintained that the re-voting process proceeded smoothly, with voter rights properly accommodated and no violations occurring during the organization, counting, or recapitulation stages.
“This raises a serious question for the Respondent—on what basis are the arguments in the petition founded? Are they grounded in actual facts on the ground, or are they merely unfounded assumptions intended to mislead the Court? It is inappropriate for this hearing to be built on arguments whose truth has not been substantiated,” Bowie emphasized.
No Legal Standing
The Related Party, represented by Anas Malik, also argued that the Petitioner lacked legal standing in the case. Meanwhile, Banjarbaru City Bawaslu, through Nor Ikhsan, emphasized that efforts had been made to prevent electoral violations, including issuing appeals for neutrality to all elements of the local government, the military (TNI), the police (Polri), as well as sub-district and village officials.
“We also received two reports of alleged violations, which we processed by clarifying the statements of the complainants, the reported parties, and witnesses. However, both reports were withdrawn before the resolution deadline,” Ikhsan stated.
Read also:
Banjarbaru Mayoral Election Violates Constitution, Court Orders Revote with Empty Column
Banjarbaru Election Dispute: Allegations of Observer Intimidation After Revote
In a previous hearing, the Petitioner, Udiansyah, alleged that the re-voting for the Banjarbaru mayoral election was marred by structured, systematic, and massive violations. Among the allegations, the Petitioner named Ghimoyo—former CEO of the Jhonlin Group, current President Director of a state-owned enterprise (BUMN), and known as the leader of the Dozer Volunteers—as an individual allegedly involved in efforts to secure victory for a specific candidate pair. The Petitioner highlighted that the sole candidate pair, Erna Lisa Halaby and Wartono, who were backed by 13 political parties, garnered only 36,135 valid votes, or 31.5 percent. In contrast, the number of invalid votes reached 78,736, or 68.5 percent. On this basis, the Petitioner requested the Constitutional Court to annul the KPU’s decision and order the General Elections Commission of the Republic of Indonesia (KPU RI) to take over the re-election process for Mayor and Deputy Mayor of Banjarbaru, scheduled for 27 August 2025, in accordance with KPU Regulation Number 19 of 2024 concerning the stages and timeline of regional head re-elections in 2025. The Petitioner also requested that all stages of the Banjarbaru mayoral election be repeated.
For information, the Court partially granted the petition filed by the Coordinator of the Nusantara Vision Study Institute, Muhamad Arifin, in the Banjarbaru City mayoral election dispute under Case Number 05/PHPU.WAKO-XXIII/2025. In its ruling delivered on Monday (24 February 2025), the Court ordered the Banjarbaru City General Election Commission (KPU) to conduct a re-voting (PSU), this time including the option of an empty column on the ballot.
In its legal considerations, the Court stated that the Banjarbaru City mayoral election, as conducted, did not fulfill the constitutional criteria of an election. The Court emphasized that such a process—where the regional head was not democratically elected—was clearly in contradiction with Article 18 paragraph (4) of the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia, which affirms that “Governors, Regents, and Mayors as heads of provincial, regency, and city governments are democratically elected.” (*)
Author :Utami Argawati
Editor : Lulu Anjarsari P.
PR : Tiara Agustina
Translator : Fuad Subhan
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, May 20, 2025 | 16:12 WIB 1202