Just Asking The Inauguration Of The Elected Regent Sabu Raijua To Be Postponed, Not Canceled, This Is Bawaslu's Reason

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JAKARTA - The Election Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) only asked the Ministry of Home Affairs (Kemendagri) to postpone the inauguration of the elected regent of Sabu Raijua Regency and did not ask for the inauguration to be canceled.

In this case, Orient was proven not to provide information that he had nationality when he was running for regional head in the 2020 Pilkada. Until finally, Orient became the elected regent of Sabu Raijua.

Bawaslu member Fritz Edward Siregar said the reason his party did not ask for the cancellation of Orient's inauguration was because Bawaslu applied the principle of prudence when the case of alleged election violations committed by Orient was still ongoing.

"Every process carried out by the election organizers applies prudence. There must be no defects in procedure, authority, and substantively defects. This principle is what we convey to the Ministry of Home Affairs why it is proposed to postpone the inauguration," Fritz said in a virtual press conference, Thursday, February 4. .

In addition, Fritz admitted that the authority of Bawaslu during the election period was completed when the process of determining the regional head candidates who won the votes. After that, the inauguration period falls under the authority of the Ministry of Home Affairs.

"We have to be aware that the Pilkada stages have been completed. The determination process has been completed and the documents have also been submitted to the Minister of Home Affairs for the inauguration process. There will be further discussions from a legal perspective," said Fritz.

In addition, Fritz admitted that he did not know which institution had the right to cancel Orient's status as the elected regent of Sabu Raijua. This is because this is the first time this has happened.

"If the nominee can be canceled, which institution has the authority to cancel it? Is it Bawaslu, is it the KPU, is it the Ministry of Home Affairs? That's a legal issue that we have to look at," said Fritz.

Previously, the Bawaslu of Sabu Raijua Regency received the fact that the elected regent of Sabu Raijua, Orient Patriot Riwu Kore, turned out to be a US citizen.

In fact, Article 7 of Law Number 10 of 2016 concerning Pilkada, the requirement to become a candidate for regional head is an Indonesian citizen (WNI).

Based on a report from the East Nusa Tenggara General Election Commission (KPU), Orient, when he registered as a candidate for Regent of Sabu Raijua last September, he submitted the requirements for population data, namely an electronic KTP as an Indonesian citizen.

Orient population data has also been verified to the Department of Population and Civil Registration (Disdukcapil) Kupang City. As a result, the Kupang Disdukcapil confirmed that Orient was a resident of Kupang City.

During the registration process, Bawaslu Sabu Raijua has also cross-checked Orient's citizenship status with the Head of the NTT Provincial Immigration Office and the United States Embassy in Jakarta since September 10, 2020.

After time, Orient, who was paired with Thobias Uly, won the most votes in the election for the Regent-Deputy Regent of Sabu Raijua with 48.3 percent of the votes. The candidate pairs, which are promoted by the PDIP, Gerindra Party, and the Democrats, have been appointed as regents and deputy regents elected by the KPU.

Until finally, the US Embassy just replied to Bawaslu's letter on February 1, 2021. As a result, the US Embassy stated that Orient was a US citizen.