Deputy Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court, Saldi Isra, accompanied by Constitutional Court Justices Enny Nurbaningsih and Ridwan Mansyur, presiding over the preliminary hearing of Case Number 330/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025 concerning the Regent Election Result Dispute in Boven Digoel Regency on Tuesday (9/2/2025). Photo by MKRI/Agung.
JAKARTA, (MKRI) – The candidate pair for Regent and Deputy Regent of Boven Digoel Regency number 1, Athanasius Koknak–Basri Muhammadiah, filed a petition for the Regent Election Result Dispute (PHPU) following the re-vote to the Court. The petitioners alleged that the elected Deputy Regent candidate Marlinus, from Candidate Pair Number 3, submitted a fake diploma. According to the petitioners, Marlinus should have been declared ineligible to participate in the Boven Digoel Regent Election.
“The Petitioner considers that there is another crucial issue, namely the validity of the diploma of the Vice Regent Candidate from Candidate Pair Number 3,” stated the Petitioner’s legal counsel, Abdul Fahmi, during the preliminary hearing of Case Number 329/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025, held online on Tuesday (9/2/2025).
The petitioners further argued that the General Election Commission (KPU) of Boven Digoel Regency, as the Respondent in this case, deliberately approved Candidate Pair Number 3, Roni Omba–Marlinus, as the Related Party. According to the petitioners, data contained in the Identity Card and Family Card shows that Marlinus claimed a “Diploma Strata” education, which they contest as invalid.
The petitioners argued that the use of an invalid academic title constitutes an act of data falsification. They asserted that Marlinus submitted a Bachelor’s degree (S1) with Diploma Number 0134-010-89, allegedly issued by the College of Social Welfare, majoring in Social Welfare, when registering with a political party.
However, based on the Higher Education Database (Pangkalan Data Pendidikan Tinggi/PD-DIKTI), no record of the institution was found. Further verification through the Electronic Diploma Verification System (SIVIL) also failed to confirm the authenticity of the diploma. The petitioners added that the title Drs (Doctorandus) is generally obtained from a recognized bachelor’s degree in the fields of social sciences or humanities.
They emphasized that if such a title appears on an Identity Card and party registration documents, it must legally be supported by a valid diploma. In contrast, when filling in the Candidate Information System (Silon) application, Marlinus did not include the title “Drs” in his name.
According to the petitioners, if there were any doubts regarding the eligibility documents submitted by a candidate pair, the KPU as the Respondent should have verified them with the supporting political party, the candidate, or the relevant authority, as mandated in KPU Regulation Number 8 of 2024, as last amended by KPU Regulation Number 10 of 2024. The petitioners maintained that, had the Respondent conducted a proper verification of the candidate’s administrative requirements, Marlinus would have been instructed to correct the documents and undergo re-examination.
The petitioners argued that the Respondent’s decision to approve Candidate Pair Number 3 as a Related Party in this case was formally flawed. Accordingly, in their petition, the petitioners requested the Court to declare null and void Decision of the Boven Digoel Regency KPU Number 67 of 2025 concerning the determination of the results of the 2024 Boven Digoel Regent and Deputy Regent Election. This decision, which followed up on the Constitutional Court’s ruling announced on August 13, 2025, at 13:53 WIT, was challenged by the petitioners insofar as it confirmed the vote count for Candidate Pair Number 3, Roni Omba–Marlinus.
The petitioners further asked the Court to disqualify Candidate Pair Number 3 from the election and to declare Candidate Pair Number 1, Athanasius Koknak–Basri Muhammadiah, as the duly elected Regent and Deputy Regent of Boven Digoel Regency.Candidate Pair Number 1 Athanasius Koknak -Basri Muhammadiah received 7,662 votes, Candidate Pair Number 2 Yakob Waremba-Suharto received 2,372 votes, Candidate Pair Number 3 Roni Omba-Marlinus received 12,990 votes, and Candidate Pair Number 4 Hengi Yaluwo-Melkior Okaibob received 6,554 votes.The petitioners noted that the vote difference between their pair and the Related Party reached 5,328 votes, which exceeded the permissible threshold for filing a PHPU petition in Boven Digoel Regency—set at 2 percent of the total valid votes or 1,408 votes.
This case was examined by court panel II, chaired by Deputy Chief Justice Saldi Isra, with Constitutional Justices Enny Nurbaningsih and Ridwan Mansyur as panel members. The next hearing, scheduled for Thursday, September 4, 2025, at 08:00 a.m., will be held online from the Constitutional Court, with the agenda of hearing the Respondent’s Response, the Bawaslu’s Statement, and the Related Parties’ Statements.
Also read:
Court Disqualifies Boven Digoel Regent Candidate, Orders a Revote
For context, the Court had previously disqualified the Regent Candidate from Candidate Pair Number 3, Petrus Ricolombus Omba, from participating in the 2024 Boven Digoel Regent Election. This ruling was stipulated in Constitutional Court Decision Number 260/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025, which was pronounced on February 24, 2025.
In its decision, the Court instructed the KPU of Boven Digoel Regency to conduct a re-vote for the Regent and Deputy Regent election. The Court determined that the election should be re-run with the participation of the following candidate pairs: Athansius Koknak–Basri Muhammadiah; Yakob Weremba–Suharto; and Hengki Yaluwo–Melkior Okaibob. The Court also required the KPU to provide political parties or coalitions of parties that had previously supported Candidate Pair Number 3 the opportunity to register a new candidate pair, provided that Petrus Ricolombus Omba was not included. The Court emphasized that the vacancy caused by the disqualification of Petrus Ricolombus Omba could not simply be filled by appointing the candidate pair with the second-highest number of votes as the elected pair. This was due to the fact that votes in the 2024 Boven Digoel Regent Election had been distributed among four candidate pairs, thus requiring a fair re-run.
The revote was ordered to be conducted using the Final Voter List, Additional Voter List, and Special Voter List from the election held on November 27, 2024. Accordingly, the re-vote was contested by Athansius Koknak–Basri Muhammadiah; Yakob Weremba–Suharto; Hengki Yaluwo–Melkior Okaibob; and any new candidate pairs proposed by political parties or coalitions that had previously supported Candidate Pair Number 3, excluding Petrus Ricolombus Omba.
Author : Mimi Kartika
Editor : N. Rosi
Translator : Fuad Subhan
Petition Number 329/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025
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, September 02, 2025 | 14:49 WIB 215