ICW: The Supreme Court's Decision To Expand The Jokowi Dynasty Tentakel Through Candidates For Kaesang In The 2024 Pilkada

The Supreme Court Building (Photo: setkab.go.id)

JAKARTA - Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) researcher, Seira Tamara, said that the decision of the Supreme Court (MA) Number 23 P/HUM/2024 which changed the age requirements for regional head candidates, namely the Governor and Deputy Governor Candidates, to 30 years before being inaugurated, expanded the dynasty of President Joko Widodo (Jokowi).

Seira questioned the change in the nomination requirements that were carried out during the 2024 regional head elections (Pilkada) at the same time.

According to Seira, the Supreme Court's decision which states that the age is at least 30 years for the cagub and cawagub as of the inauguration of the elected candidate pairs only benefits Kaesang Pangarep if he really runs in the 2024 Simultaneous Pilkada in November.

In fact, he continued, Article 4 Paragraph (1) letter d of PKPU Number 9 of 2020 concerning the condition for nominating regional heads states that they are at least 30 years old for cagub and cawagub as of the determination of candidate pairs. Meanwhile, Kaesang will only be 30 years old in December 2024. This means that during the implementation of the Kaesang Pilkada, it should not be allowed to register. However, based on the Supreme Court's decision, if elected Kaesang was 30 years old at the time of his inauguration in January 2025.

"The change in the rules is applied to the current Pilkada period, so it can directly benefit certain parties. In this case, it is suspected that President Joko Widodo's son, Kaesang Pangarep, who will turn 30 (three) years old in December 2024," said Seira in her statement, Saturday, May 1.

Seira assessed that the Supreme Court's decision was the same as the decision of the Constitutional Court (MK) Number 90/PUU-XXI/2023 which paved the way for Gibran Rakabuming Raka to become vice presidential candidate.

"This decision also provides a red carpet to further extend President Jokowi's dynasty through the candidacy of Kaesang Pangarep as regional head at the end of his term as head of state," he said.

Seira reminded that the minimum age requirement is part of the administrative requirements that must be met during the registration period before the election takes place.

"Thus, making provisions regarding the minimum age requirements for regional head candidates calculated since the inauguration of the elected candidate are baseless and fabricated," explained Seira.

Seira also questioned the duration of the Supreme Court, which only took three days to change the minimum age limit for regional heads since it was processed on May 27 and decided on May 29, 2024. He assessed that this had an impact on very inadequate legal considerations due to the absence of mature deliberation between the judges. "This means that it can be said that this case was only decided within three days. It is very likely that there will be judicial politicization behind this case," he concluded.