Bawaslu Regarding Documentary Dirty Vote: Please Criticize, We Work According To Law

Chairman of Bawaslu Rahmat Bagja (central) announced the results of mapping vulnerabilities at the TPS during a press conference at the Bawaslu Office, Jakarta, Sunday (11/2/2024). ANTARA/Genta Tenri Mawangi.

JAKARTA - The Indonesian General Elections Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) responded to criticisms addressed to the institution in the documentary film Dirty Vote made by director Dandhy Dwi Laksono. "Friends, if you criticize Bawaslu, go ahead, there is no problem for Bawaslu as long as we carry out our duties and functions in accordance with the laws and regulations," said Chairman of the Indonesian Bawaslu Rahmat Bagja in response to reporters' questions during a press conference in Jakarta, Antara, Sunday, February 11. According to Bagja, the Indonesian Bawaslu and the regional election supervisors have so far done their job well. Therefore, he submitted the full assessment of Bawaslu's performance to the community. “Alhamdulillah, please criticize us. The process is ongoing, we don't want these processes to be considered untrue. However, at this point Bawaslu has done its function well, but it depends on the community as well, public perspective please. We can't drive (controlling, ed.) public perspective,” Bagja said. He also respects freedom of opinion which is the right of every citizen. “ What is expressed by friends is a constitutionally protected right, as well as Bawaslu's rights and duties guaranteed, regulated by law, ” said Chairman of the Indonesian Bawaslu. The documentary film “Dirty Vote ” on Sunday afternoon was released by the WatchDoc production house on the YouTube platform. The film features three constitutional law experts, namely Zainal Arifin Mochtar from Gadjah Mada University, Feri Amsari from Andalas University, and Bivitri Susanti from the Law College (STH) Indonesia Jentera. The three experts took turns and jointly explained the series of events believed to be part of election fraud. In some parts, some experts also criticized Bawaslu which was considered indecisive in imposing sanctions on election violations. As a result, according to them, there is no deterrent effect so that election violations tend to occur repeatedly. Director “Dirty Vote ” Dandhy Dwi Laksono called the film a form of education for the public, especially a few days before they exercised their voting rights during the vote on February 14, 2024. "There is a time when we become supporters of the presidential and vice-presidential candidates, but today I want to invite everyone to watch this film as citizens," said Dandhy.

He explained that the film was worked on in about 2 weeks, which includes the process of research, production, editing, and release. Making it, he added, involved 20 institutions, including the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI), the Mahardika Nation, the New Indonesia Expedition, Equatorial, the Indonesian People's Faction, the Needdem, Indonesia Corruption Watch, JATAM, Lokataru, LBH Pers, WALHI, the Kurawal Foundation, and YLBHI. Within approximately 8 hours of broadcasting on YouTube, the film has now seen more than one million people and is liked by more than 117,000 YouTube users.