PPLN Secretary Kuala Lumpur Denies Lobby For Political Party Representatives

JAKARTA - Secretary of the Overseas Election Committee (PPLN) Kuala Lumpur Hendra Purnama Iskandar denied that he was lobbying representatives of political parties regarding the addition of the number of voters of the Mobile Voice Box (KSK) method on the Kuala Lumpur Permanent Voter List (DPT), Malaysia.

Hendra admitted to meeting representatives of the NasDem Party Tengku Adnan and the Perindo Tohong Party, during an open plenary meeting on June 21, 2023, to bridge communication between political parties and PPLN members who at that time experienced a deadlock.

"At that time we walked over to Pak Adnan and Pak Tohong, to build communication, bridge, there was no communication between PPLN and friends from political parties," said Hendra when giving a teleconference at the Central Jakarta District Court, Jakarta, as reported by ANTARA, Monday, March 18.

He said that at that time representatives of political parties did not agree with the figure of around 270 thousand voters who would be assigned to the DPT for polling stations (TPS). The political parties considered that the number was too much because it had the potential to be redundant.

Representatives of political parties believe that many voters have difficulty coming to the location because they reflect on the previous election, so the number of DPT TPS is deemed necessary to be transferred to other methods.

"So from the start, the PPLN meeting could not decide that the DPT could be ratified because the political party, especially conveyed by Mr. Adnan, could not accept the amount of DPT TPS which was too large. The person concerned wanted a change. So, the TPS should not be too big. The TPS should not, it is too big, it is certain that no one will come to the TPS," said Hendra.

At that time, PPLN Kuala Lumpur had to determine the DPT for the 2024 General Election in Kuala Lumpur. According to Hendra, the plenary meeting was also colored by a commotion due to disagreements between PPLN and representatives of political parties

Because he did not want the commotion to continue, Hendra representing PPLN wanted to bridge communication with representatives of political parties.

When communicating with representatives of political parties, Hendra discussed the method of whether the voter was transferred, because the Pos method was no longer possible, the Mobile Voice Box (KSK) method was chosen.

"My understanding is that when I went to the Post, as explained by the Chairman of PPLN, the method was different. This could be the address that was not clear enough, sent to the Post, did not arrive. Finally, it was said, 'How about KSK?' Ask, 'KSK is it possible?', yes, it is possible, 50 thousand he said, "said Hendra.

However, Hendra said he could not decide how many voters would be transferred. He then conveyed the results of the discussion with representatives of the political parties to members of PPLN and the Election Supervisory Committee (Panwaslu).

"This political party asks for a recommendation of 50 thousand (transferred), I am not in a position to decide, I just convey it. So, if this can be considered, go ahead. If not, we will convey it again to the plenary council," said Hendra.

After that, members of PPLN and Panwaslu negotiated, the plenary meeting was reopened, and it was agreed that there would be a transfer of voters from the TPS method to KSK. Well that's where the applause ended, finished," said Hendra.

Previously, the Head of the NasDem Party Foreign Representative Office in Malaysia Tengku Adnan said PPLN Secretary Kuala Lumpur Hendra lobbied representatives of political parties regarding the increase in the number of DPT KSK methods.

Adnan denied that the lobbying was carried out by representatives of political parties, as charged by the Public Prosecutor (JPU) of the Attorney General's Office in the case of alleged data falsification and list of foreign voters for the 2024 election by seven non-active members of PPLN Kuala Lumpur.

"As far as we remember, we never lobbied for PPLN in the plenary or outside the plenary room. However, when the last DPT was plenary, we were approached by PPLN through the secretary," said Adnan when giving testimony as a witness at the Central Jakarta District Court, Jakarta, Friday (15/3).

It was explained in the indictment of the open plenary meeting of the determination of the PPLN Kuala Lumpur DPT on June 21, 2023. The open plenary meeting was attended by all members of PPLN, party representatives, the Election Supervisory Committee (Panwaslu), and representatives of the Indonesian Embassy.

The meeting was blocked, so it was suspended. During the suspension, representatives of political parties are said to have carried out a lobby to change the composition of the DPT, namely asking for the composition of the KSK method to be added by 30 percent.

From the results of the meeting, it was decided that the KSK DPT would be 67,945 from the original 525 voters; the Pos DPT became 156,367 from the original 3,336 voters; while the LN TPS became 222,945. Thus, the total DPT rate of PPLN Kuala Lumpur was 447,258 voters.

In this case, seven non-active members of PPLN Kuala Lumpur were charged with falsifying data and lists of foreign voters for the 2024 General Election in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The seven defendants are the Chairman of PPLN Kuala Lumpur Umar Faruk; Member of PPLN Kuala Lumpur Finance Division Tita Octavia Cahya Rahayu; Member of PPLN Kuala Lumpur Data and Information Division Dicky Saputra; and Member of PPLN Kuala Lumpur Division HR Aprijon.

Next, PPLN Kuala Lumpur Member of the Socialization Division Puji Sumarsono; Member of PPLN Kuala Lumpur, Technical Division of the Khalil Election; and Member of PPLN Kuala Lumpur, Masduki Khamdan Muhammad Logistics Division.

The defendants were charged with violating Article 544 or Article 545 of Law Number 7 of 2017 concerning General Election in conjunction with Article 55 paragraph (1) 1 of the Criminal Code.