Decision Of Dismissal Of KPU Chairman Hasyim Asy'ari Kian Weakens The Legitimization Of Processes And Results Of The 2024 Presidential Election

KPU chairman Hasyim Asy'ari has been dismissed by the Honorary Council of Election Organizers (DKPP) regarding immoral acts. (VOI/Diah Ayu Wardani)

JAKARTA The Election Organizers Honorary Council (DKPP) dismissed Hasyim Asy'ari from his position as Chairman of the General Elections Commission (KPU) on Wednesday, July 3, 2024, regarding immoral acts. The public then questioned about the status of Gibran Rakabuming Raka as a presidential candidate for Indonesia for the 2024-2029 period.

The Hasyim case originated from a woman with the initials CAT who served as the Overseas Election Committee (PPLN) in The Hague to DKPP on April 18, 2024.

"Imposing a permanent dismissal sanction to the defendant Hasyim Asy'ari as chairman and concurrently a member of the KPU commissioner since this decision was read out," said DKPP Chairman Heddy Lugito in Wednesday's siding (3/7/2024).

In this alleged ethical violation case, Hasyim Asy'ari was accused of using power relations to approach, foster romantic relationships, and commit immorality against the complainants, including using his position as Chairman of the Indonesian KPU.

Responding to the decision of the DKPP, Hasyim Asy'ari, thanked the honorary council which he said 'has freed him of his tough duties as the KPU that held the election.'

Actually, this is not the first time that the DKPP has imposed sanctions on Hasyim Asy'ari. He received the last tough warning sanction from the DKPP in February 2024 for violating the code of ethics related to the registration process for Gibran Rakabuming Raka as a vice presidential candidate.

DKPP also imposed strict warning sanctions on six KPU commissioners who were proven to have violated ethics for processing Gibran's registration as a vice presidential candidate, without changing the minimum age requirements for presidential and vice presidential candidates in KPU Regulation Number 19 of 2023 in accordance with Constitutional Court Decision (MK) Number 90/PUU-XXI/2023.

After the DKPP decision dismissed Hasyim Asy'ari as Chairman of the KPU, the public also questioned about Gibran's status in winning the 2024 presidential election with Prabowo Subianto.

Political observer Karyono Wibowo also assessed that the dismissal of KPU Chairman Hasyim Ashari by the DKPP had no effect on Gibran's candidacy as a vice presidential candidate. He emphasized that from a legal perspective, Gibran's candidacy was getting stronger after the Constitutional Court's decision.

Gibran's candidacy is only ethically flawed. At least, this was proven by two decisions, namely the Constitutional Court's decision which dismissed Anwar Usman from the position of Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court because he was proven to have violated severe ethics," Karyono told VOI.

"The second is the DKPP decision which gave the last tough warning sanctions to the chairman of the KPU because he was proven to have violated the code of ethics several times," he added.

Even though Gibran's candidacy was proven to have violated ethical violations, Karyono emphasized that this did not necessarily cancel Gibran's candidacy.

"However, the dismissal of the KPU Chairperson by the DKPP further weakens the legitimacy of the process and results of the 2024 presidential election," concluded Karyono, who is also the Executive Director of the Indonesian Public Institute (IPI).

The DKPP decision has also attracted the attention of political observer and Executive Director of the Indonesia Political Opinion (IPO) Dedi Kurnia Syah. He regretted that this decision was only made now and suspected that there was a political lobby involved in it.

Dedi assessed that this decision was like repeating the decision of the Honorary Council of the Constitutional Court (MKMK) which dismissed Anwar Usman as Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court in early November 2023.

"In general, sanctions like this should have been carried out since Hasyim received his first severe sanctions, but political lobbying could have affected him," said Dedi when contacted.

"This decision kind of repeats the Constitutional Court's decision on the dismissal of the Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court, it has no effect and has no impact on the election process that has been going on," he added.

According to Dedi, if this decision relies on the moral scandal carried out by the chairman of the KPU, then it is clear that this is not an electoral district, so it does not affect the results of the 2024 presidential election. Dedi added that this case is only tied to the ethics of the poor chairman of the KPU.

That's why he encouraged this to be the first step to bring Hasyim Asy'ari to the trial of a criminal case, not only about his position, but his legal status that should be attached to him. According to him, Hasyim deserves to be dismissed from the KPU commissioner, because it is clearly inappropriate to be there.

"Although this decision also needs to be criticized, because immorality should not involve DKPP, it is more appropriate to handle it criminally," he said.

"DKPP will be much more potential in dealing with electoral ethics, and in the Hasyim period, there are actually quite a lot of flaws in electoral norms," Dedi emphasized.

The case that happened to Hasyim Asy'ari seems to emphasize that the matter of norms and ethics is increasingly marginalized in our beloved country, Indonesia.