Head Of Bawaslu Denies Allegations Of Conflict Of Interest In Regional Selection

Chairman of Bawaslu Rahmat Bagja while attending the trial for the examination of alleged violations of the election organizer's code of ethics in the Main Session Room of the DKPP, Jakarta, Monday (23/10/2023). (ANTARA/Cahya Sari)

Chairman of the Election Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) Rahmat Bagja dismissed the alleged violation of the code of ethics for election organizers in the form of conflicts of interest in the selection of candidates for Bawaslu regency and city members for the period 2023-2028.

"It would be wrong if it was said that the selection of candidates for Bawaslu regencies and cities for the period 2023-2028 was considered full of conflicts of interest," said Rahmat Bagja during a hearing on the examination of alleged violations of the election organizers' code of ethics at the DKPP as reported by ANTARA, Monday, October 23.

The charge of being full of interest, continued Bagja, was only based on the extension of the announcement period for the results of the medical test and interviews with candidates for regional Bawaslu members, which was originally on July 25, 2023 to July 31, 2023, regardless of the cause of the delay.

Bagja said the delay in announcing the results of the medical test and interviewing candidates for regional Bawaslu members were caused by obstacles in the assessment process involving third parties.

The third party served as the party that helped the selection team for candidates for Bawaslu district and city members for the period 2023-2028.

"For the implementation of psychological tests and national health tests, Bawaslu cooperates with the Indonesian National Police (Polri), the field of human resources (HR), and medical and health centers," he explained.

In the process, said Bagja, there was an error in the format of the selection results sent by the police. Data sent via Bawaslu e-mail is not in accordance with the required Excel format.

Bagja explained that the data uploaded in the recruitment application of Mr. Bawaslu must display results per district and city. However, the electronic mail sent by the police is based on provincial level results.

"Bawaslu submitted a letter of application for re-ferralization of the results of the health tests of candidates for Bawaslu district and city members in 2023 on July 25 to the Police," said Bagja.

In addition, another mistake was also found, namely that there were participants who did not take the medical test but received an assessment of the results of the medical test.

Furthermore, there are participants with a value of 50 who get different categories, namely they can be considered and not recommended.

"Therefore, the National Police are asked to observe and send back the File Excel format of the health test results of candidates for Bawaslu regencies and cities; and on July 29, results that match the format of the need for the Mr. Bawaslu application were only received by Bawaslu," said Rahmat Bagja.

DKPP held a hearing to examine alleged violations of the election organizer's code of ethics with Case Number 122-PKE-DKPP/X/2023 in the Main Session Room of DKPP, Jakarta, Monday.

The case was reported by Ikhsan Muchtar, who gave power to Syamsudin. In this case, the defendant is Bawaslu Chairman Rahmat Bagja, West Sulawesi Bawaslu Chairman Nasrul Muhayyang, and Bawaslu Member Majene Yanti Rezki Amaliah Regency.

Rahmat Bagja is argued to be not careful and not optimal in the selection process for candidates for Bawaslu regency and city members in West Sulawesi Province.

In the selection, one of the Bawaslu members of Majene Regency for the period 2023-2028 which has been determined as a candidate for legislature from the PDI-P in the Electoral Region (Dapil) of Central Mamuju Regency with serial number eight.