The KPU Should Start Cleaning Up After Two Of Its Commissioners Are Discharged

KPU office (Irfan Meidianto / VOI)

JAKARTA - General Election Commission (KPU) commissioner Evi Novida Ginting Manik was fired. This dismissal was carried out based on the results of the hearing of the Election Organizer Honorary Council (DKPP) which stated that Evi was proven to have committed a violation.

Based on the trial that was held on Wednesday, March 18, Evi was said to have violated the code of ethics and code of conduct for the election organizers regarding the vote acquisition case of the Gerindra Party legislative candidate for the Electoral District of West Kalimantan VI.

"Imposing permanent dismissal sanctions on Defendant VII Evi Novida Ginting Manik as a member of the General Election Commission of the Republic of Indonesia since this decision was read," said Plt Chairman of the DKPP Muhammad while reading the verdict at the DKPP building, Jakarta.

DKPP Chairman Muhammad during the hearing on the dismissal of KPU commissioner Evi Novida Ginting Manik. (Photo: Doc: DKPP Public Relations

After reading the decision, when confirmed by reporters via short message Evi and other KPU commissioners admitted that they were still studying the DKPP decision.

"We cannot answer yet because we are still reading and studying the verdict," Evi told reporters, Wednesday, March 18.

Prior to Evi, about three months ago, DKPP also decided to sanction Wahyu Setiawan. This was done after he became a suspect in receiving bribes given by the PDIP legislative candidate from the South Sumatra I electoral district, Harun Masiku.

This bribe was accepted by Wahyu as a lubricant in order to pave the way for Harun to replace the candidate in his electoral district who died. To expedite the replacement process, Wahyu asked for an operational fund of Rp. 900 million and the transaction was carried out in stages two times.

Wahyu is currently undergoing a legal process being investigated by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK). It has been three months since the whereabouts of the bribe, Harun Masiku, are still unknown.

Responding to the dismissal that occurred twice in a period of three months, to VOI, researcher of the Association for Elections and Democracy (Perludem), Fadli Ramadhanil assessed that the KPU must immediately clean up. This needs to be done immediately in an effort to prevent delegitimization of the performance of the EMB.

"(This delegitimation) is important to prevent. The KPU must immediately organize the organization and study what is the cause of this (problem), so that the challenge is to restore public trust," said Fadli.

Internal improvements, according to Fadli, must also be carried out immediately. The KPU must not have thin ears and must be prepared to hear criticism from other parties. In addition, building a system internally is also deemed necessary so that the institution can be more solid and professional in organizing elections.

Meanwhile, for the DKPP decision against Evi, Fadli assessed that studying it first was indeed the best step to be taken at this time. The goal is to know comprehensively what mistakes led to the dismissal.

"It must also be remembered that the KPU's governance is collectively collegial so that this decision cannot only be seen in Evi's own mistakes," he said.

In this trial, DKPP also imposed a final harsh warning sanction on the Defendant I, namely the Chairman of the KPU, Arief Budiman, who is also a member. Apart from that, other commissioners were also given strong warnings, namely Defendant II Pramono Ubaid Tanthowi, Defendant IV Ilham Saputra, Defendant V Viryan Azis, and Defendant VI Hasyim Asy'ari.

Apart from the KPU, sanctions in the form of a stern warning were also given to the regional level KPUs. Those who were sanctioned were Defendant VIII Ramdan as the Chairperson and member of the West Kalimantan Provincial KPU, Defendant IX Erwin Irawan, Defendant X Mujiyo, and Defendant XI Zainab respectively as members of the KPU of West Kalimantan Province.

Upon this decision, DKPP then asked the Election Supervisory Body (Bawaslu) to supervise. Meanwhile, the decision to dismiss Evi will be carried out by the President for the next seven days at the latest.

"The President of the Republic of Indonesia to implement this decision as long as the VII Defendant is at the latest 7 (seven) days since this Decision is read out," said Muhammad.