Allegations Of Money Politics And Intimidation Of The Victory Of The Banjarbaru Pilkada Singles Paslon

BANJARBARU - Re-voting (PSU) results for the Pilkada of Banjarbaru City, South Kalimantan, were again sued to the Constitutional Court (MK). The lawsuit was filed against the single candidate pair Erna Lisa Halaby and Wartono who were declared victorious in the PSU.

This lawsuit was tried in two cases, namely Case Number 318/PHPU.WAKO-XXIII/2025 which was filed by the Indonesian Reform Supervisory Agency (LPRI) and Case Number 319/PHPU.WAKO-XXIII/2025 which was requested by a resident named Udiansyah. Both were tried at the Constitutional Court Building, Jakarta, Thursday, May 15.

The attorney for the petitioners, Muhamad Pazri, said that Lisa-Wartono's victory was suspected to be full of structured, systematic, and massive violations (TSM). The violation includes the practice of money politics or "duitocracy", the neutrality of state apparatus, as well as the implementation of PSU which is considered unprofessional by the Banjarbaru General Election Commission (KPU).

"Entrepreneurs' support for Lisa's candidacy is channeled through a winning team called the Dozer Team. Thousands of volunteers were moved to win this candidate pair, but in the process there were widespread allegations of money politics," said Pazri in front of the panel of judges at the Constitutional Court, quoted from Antara.

Pazri added, based on public reports, money politics is carried out massively throughout the PSU area.

Similarly, another attorney, Denny Indrayana, said that the practice of money politics was carried out in two stages: the distribution of money amounting to Rp100,000 and Rp200,000 to voters. The money is allegedly distributed in all sub-districts, involving community leaders to the head of the RT.

"There was even information from the witness that the money was distributed through the wife of the head of the RT," said Denny.

Denny also highlighted allegations of intimidation against the applicant, especially against the Chairman of the South Kalimantan LPRI, Syarifah Hayana, who was the reporter for the violation to the Constitutional Court. He said Syarifah had been asked to withdraw the lawsuit and was even named a suspect by the police after being questioned by Bawaslu, Banjarbaru Police, and the South Kalimantan Provincial KPU.

In addition, the Banjarbaru KPU is considered unprofessional in implementing the PSU. According to Denny, there is no clear technical guide regarding the selection between single and empty candidates. Socialization is also considered minimal and the distribution of voters' invitations is uneven.

If you come to Banjarbaru, there is only one billboard about PSU. Only one," said Denny.

Not only that, the applicant highlighted the change in the final voter list (DPT) between the elections on November 27, 2024 and the PSU on April 19, 2025. In fact, the Constitutional Court's decision had previously ordered that the PSU be carried out with the same DPT.

Based on the results of the PSU, the Lisa-Wartono pair won 56,043 votes or 52.15 percent, while the column voters were empty as many as 51,415 votes or 47.85 percent. The pair's victory was then sued because it was considered invalid due to alleged violations.

For information, in the 2024 Banjarbaru Pilkada there were originally two candidate pairs: Erna Lisa Halaby-Wartono (Nomor Urut 1) and Aditya Mufti Ariffin-Said Abdullah (Nomor Urut 2). However, the Aditya-Said pair was disqualified a month before voting. However, the couple's name and image are still printed on the ballot.

The Constitutional Court then canceled the results of the Banjarbaru Regional Election through Decision Number 05/PHPU.WAKO-XXIII/2025 and ordered the KPU to hold a PSU using the selection method between the single candidate pair and the empty column.

In their lawsuit, the petitioners asked the Constitutional Court to cancel the results of the PSU, disqualify the Lisa-Wartono pair, and order the Indonesian KPU to take over the re-election in Banjarbaru.