Constitutional Judge Arief Hidayat touched on the latest repeated harsh warning sanctions imposed by the Election Organizer Honorary Council (DKPP) on the commissioners of the Indonesian General Election Commission (KPU). The witness said that the DKPP had given the last strong warning three times to the Chairman of the Indonesian KPU, Hasyim Asyari.
Finally, the DKPP imposed sanctions in connection with the acceptance of Gibran Rakabuming Raka’s registration as a candidate for vice president alongside Prabowo Subianto in trial number 135-PKE-DKPP/XXI/2023, 136-PKE-DKPP/XXI/2023, 137-PKE-DKPP/XXI /2024, and 141-PKE-DKPP/XXI/2023 at the beginning of last February.
This session was not the first to issue a final strong warning to the Indonesian KPU commissioners. Therefore, Arief said that if there is another violation of the code of ethics by a KPU commissioner, the sanction must be removed, referring to the dismissal sanction that DKPP had imposed on the KPU commissioner in the previous period.
This was conveyed by Arief in the follow-up hearing to dispute the results of the 2024 Presidential Election which presented the DKPP. Before Arief stated this, DKPP Chairman Heddy Lugito explained his party’s decisions regarding violations of the election organizer’s code of ethics.
The DKPP was presented to the General Election Results Dispute (PHPU) hearing at the Constitutional Court because one of the arguments of the 2024 Presidential-Vice Presidential Candidates’ request for the 2024 Presidential Election was related to the paralyzed independence of election organizers due to power intervention as well as the ineffectiveness and partiality of election organizers.
“There is collaboration between the three institutions present here, the KPU, Bawaslu and DKPP. The three of them are playing for a common interest, so I don’t know what for, (but) there is that argument. So DKPP went to the Court to provide an explanation,” said Arief , Friday (5/4).
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Arief then touched on the issue related to the very tough candidacy that arose in the 2024 PHPU Presidential Election session. This was because the KPU immediately implemented the Constitutional Court’s decision which paved the way for Gibran to be nominated in the 2024 Presidential Election contestation, without changing the KPU regulations (PKPU).
The KPU commissioner’s steps were then reported to the DKPP and decided with a final stern warning to Hasyim and six other members of the Indonesian KPU.
“If you give sanctions to all KPU members with a final strong warning, tomorrow if there are any more violations they must be thrown out. Don’t be harsh, keep being harsh. Finally, lastly. Until it’s finished,” said Arief.
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The last two DKPP decisions regarding harsh warning sanctions were first imposed on Hasyim in April 2023 because of the case reported by the Chairman of the Republican Party Satu Hasnaeni or “Golden Woman”. Next, in October 2023, Hasyim was also given a strict warning for regulating the calculation of women’s representation in violation of the Election Law.
Previously, election law lecturer from the University of Indonesia, Titi Anggraini, said that the last three harsh warning sanctions against Hasyim could erode public confidence in the implementation of the 2024 elections. In addition, the implementation of the elections was labeled as problematic because it was unprofessional and did not comply with the law.
“Institutionally, the KPU should immediately improve. If necessary, restructure or refresh the composition of the KPU leadership,” said Titi.
“Repeated sanctions without any implications for a person’s official status will easily be considered trivial or meaningless,” he continued. (Z-8)
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