Bawaslu Calls 30 Maluku Village Heads/Kings Indicated For Violating Election Laws Related To Meetings With Gibran

The visit of the Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka in Ambon, in (8/1/2024). (ANTARA/Winda Herman)

AMBON - The General Election Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) of Maluku Province said as many as 30 village heads in Central Maluku (Malteng) and Ambon City were indicated to have violated the Election Law (UU).

Dozens of village heads are suspected of violating Article 280 of Law Number 7 of 2017 concerning elections. They attended and even expressed support for the vice presidential candidate Gibran Rakabuming Raka during a visit to Maluku.

"In principle, Law Number 7 of 2017 states that involving village heads and village officials is a violation," said the Coordinator of the Maluku Bawaslu Legal Division, Samsun Ninilouw, in Ambon as reported by ANTARA, Friday, January 12.

His party is still conducting studies on the formal material requirements.

Based on the Supervision Report (LHP) received from the leaders, his party found that around 30 Village Heads were indicated to have violated the Election Law from the estimated 100 people who were invited at that time.

"We then carried out a plenary session, and the resulting analysis stated that this is a form of violation even though it is not final," he said.

The Maluku Bawaslu will again carry out plenary sessions to decide whether the actions of the kings or village heads meet the formal requirements as a finding or not.

"But the initial assumption was that we stated this was a violation. Because those present there on average came from two regions, namely from Ambon City and Central Maluku, mostly from Central Maluku," explained Samsun.

Regarding the meeting, Bawaslu has pocketed a number of evidences, starting from the documentation of the results of the supervision, having a list present during activities and other evidence.

Samsun hopes that this process can be completed quickly because the alleged violation was found by Bawaslu himself.

"Most likely later we will see whether this is a criminal act that can be fulfilled or not or if there is an administrative problem which they then violate based on Article 280," he said. The legislative category of the village head is carried out based on regional regulations, for example in Central Maluku Regency, which in the Regional Regulation in Article 1 clearly states that the village government in it is the village head and king.

"Therefore they (Kings / Villages) fulfill the legal standing as the prohibition referred to in Article 280," he said.

The Coordinator of the HR, Organization and Bawaslu Division of Maluku Province, Stevin Mellay, said that until now Bawaslu is still conducting analysis in terms of substance, the material is to drop whether Article 280 has been violated or there are other articles that can be suspected. "Violation of this law carries a threat of two years in prison," said Stevin.

Stevin appealed to all kings/village heads who have positions as stipulated in the provisions of the legislation or PKPU 15 article 72 paragraph 4, to then refrain from being involved in campaign activities carried out by election participants.

Previously, the Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka, son of the President of the Republic of Indonesia Joko Widodo, together with a group visited the city of Ambon, Maluku, Monday (8/1/2024).

During his visit, Gibran held a meeting with the kings at the Swiss Bell Hotel Ballroom. They also then heard the aspirations of the community and creative economy activists at the Red Brick Cafe, Karang Panjang. Not only that, Gibran and his entourage also provided free milk at the Liang Village field, Liang Village, Salahutu District. They then played football with residents on the Tulehu field, Salahutu District, Central Maluku.