Ilham Saputra Becomes Acting Chairman Of The KPU Replaces Arief Budiman Who Was Fired By DKPP

JAKARTA - The General Election Commission (KPU) has held a plenary meeting to follow up on the decision of the Honorary Board of Election Administrators (DKPP), which dismissed Arief Budiman from the position of Chairman of the Indonesian KPU.

RI KPU commissioner I Dewa Kade Wiarsa Raka Sandi said, the result of the plenary meeting of the KPU ranks was to comply with the DKPP decision and to appoint one of the commissioners, Ilham Saputra, to be the Acting Task Force (Plt.) Chairman of the KPU.

"The plenary meeting we held earlier decided to elect the Acting Chairman of the KPU Ilham Saputra by acclamation. So, we have chosen the chairman of the KPU, brother Ilham Saputra," Dewa said in a live broadcast on the KPU RI Facebook account, Friday, January 15.

Then, in the next few days, Ilham Saputra will officially issue a decision to dismiss Arief from the head of the KPU. However, Arief remains a member of the commissioner.

"The Acting Chairman of the KPU coordinates the follow-up of the DKPP decision by issuing a final stern warning and dismissal from his position as chairman of the KPU to Arief Budiman no later than 7 days after the DKPP decision was read," explained Dewa.

For information, DKPP dismissed Arief Budiman from the position of Chairman of the Indonesian KPU because of the case of dismissing Evi Novida Ginting Manik from his position as a KPU member.

Arief was deemed to have violated the code of ethics because he attended and accompanied Evi in filing a lawsuit for dismissal of his position which was decided by DKPP at the Jakarta State Administrative Court (PTUN) some time ago.

In addition, Arief allegedly exceeded his authority, namely issuing RI KPU letter Number 665 / SDM.13.SD / 05 / KPU / VIII / 2020 dated August 18, 2020. This letter reactivated Evi as a KPU Commissioner after Evi won the claim for dismissal, accompanied by Presidential Decree which revokes the letter of dismissal.

In the previous trial, Arief as a defendant in the DKPP trial explained that his presence at the PTUN on April 17, 2020 was not intended to accompany Evi in registering the lawsuit with the Jakarta PTUN.

Arief's presence, he admitted, merely provided moral support, sympathy, and empathy based on a sense of humanity as an individual due to his long friendship with Evi.

Arief admitted that his presence at the PTUN was not in his capacity as the head of the KPU who represented the institution, because on the same day he was running WFH.

In the DKPP decision hearing, DKPP member Didik Supriyanto said that his party understood the strong emotional bond between Arief and Evi, which was built on similar professions and started a career from below as a member of the KPU.

"However, emotional ties should not close or kill the sense of ethics in carrying out individual personal activities because the defendant (Arief) is attached to the position of chairman of the KPU who is also a member of the KPU who has no emotional ties with anyone except legal provisions and ethics of the position as organizer. elections, "said Didik.

In his position, according to Didik, Arief should not have been trapped in emotional acts in placing himself in the public sphere. This, he said, had the implication of being insubordinate and disrespecting the DKPP decision which dismissed Evi from his position.

"The presence of the defendant at every opportunity in the public space to accompany sister Evi in her efforts to fight for her rights causes the KPU to appear as an institution as the main supporter in fighting against the DKPP decision," he explained.