[POLITICS] Arief Budiman | Regarding Election Preparation Which Is Often Life Threatening

Chairman of the KPU Arief Budiman (Diah Ayu Wardani / VOI)

During the implementation of the regional head and presidential elections, Arief Budiman's name was always present in the news timeline. He is the head of the General Election Commission (KPU) which is responsible for organizing elections in Indonesia.

The last three years have been super busy for Arief Budiman. Since being elected as Chairman of the Indonesian General Election Commission (KPU) in 2017, Arief has had to face general elections (elections) for three consecutive years. He has already visited the 2017 Regional Head Elections (Pilkada), 2018 Pilkada, and the 2019 Presidential and Legislative Elections. Now, Arief will prepare to return to face the 2020 Pilkada.

VOI had the opportunity to chat with Arief on the Argo Dwipangga train that drove from Purwokerto Station, Central Java to Gambir, Central Jakarta at around 16.30 WIB, Sunday, December 1.

Since last Friday, a number of reporters, including VOI, have also left for Purwokerto to follow the agenda of the Indonesian KPU commissioners. They held a joint work meeting of all levels of district / city KPU in Central Java in preparation for the 2020 Pilkada.

The man who was born in Surabaya, March 2, 1974 took us to the restoration carriage when we asked him to be willing to be interviewed. The afternoon was the perfect time for him to order hot tea while chatting casually.

KPU chairman Arief Budiman with his youngest son (Diah Ayu Wardani / VOI)

"While chatting, let me have a good chat," said Arief while carrying his baby boy who was less than one year old, moving from car to car to the place for serving food and drinks.

Arief brought his youngest child and wife to a work meeting yesterday. While he was out of town, he took the time to travel with his wife and children around Purwokerto.

Arief began to tell about what he wanted to do since he served as a member of the KPU for Central Java Province in 2004, until he became a member of the Indonesian KPU starting in 2012.

He has big goals, namely to hold elections in Indonesia effectively and efficiently for organizers (KPU) and election participants. This provision has been planted since 1999. At that time, Arief was already an activist of electoral affairs.

"In the past, I was determined to find reasons and solutions to why the holding of elections was expensive. There were two things I predicted, whether the regulations or the KPU were not able to work carefully. When I served as a member of the KPU in the logistics sector, I made a logistics procurement auction via e. -Catalogue, so that no one is playing around with procurement, "said Arief.

This man who has been active in student activities admits that his three years of leadership as Chairman of the KPU are tiring. Successive elections made him often work overtime.

"But actually it is my responsibility. But I just enjoy it so I don't stress," he said.

Arief admitted that during his tenure as KPU leader, many negative sentiments developed in society. Accusations of fraud in the election administration are increasingly arriving during the 2019 Election season. In fact, the attack also targeted Arief's person.

The peak of the attacks occurred during the recapitulation of the 2019 Election vote results. There were a number of parties who came directly to the KPU RI office. Through the forum, the party accused Arief of cheating to threaten his safety.

When asked who the threat was, Arief looked away from us who were beside him. He stared straight at his body position and smiled.

"There, anyway, anyway."

Arief Budiman when he became the defendant in the Constitutional Court hearing (Irvan Meidianto / VOI)

Not only that, he also received many threats via WhatsApp messages with unknown numbers, which did not display photos when contacting Arief. In fact, there was a threat to Arief's life that came through the messaging application.

"There were those who threatened to blow up the KPU office, there were also those who threatened to kill me,"

Arief Budiman

After being hit by various threats, Arief did not want to find out the identity of the threatener. He only made a report to the police. At that time, the police offered an escort who was always around him. Then, they sent officers to secure Arief's family at home for some time.

Even so, Arief did not press all the threats that came.

"The depressed ones are the people around me, my family and friends. I'm just normal," he said laughing.

"Because I believe, our age actually has a line."

He sipped the tea that was not so warm. The air conditioner in the train makes the drinks there cool faster. Arief then continued his story.

After his term as Chairman of the KPU expires in 2022, it is impossible for Arief to continue working as an election organizer. Two terms of office in the Central Java KPU, plus two terms at the KPU RI, have provided him with many valuable experiences in upholding a democratic system.

Then, what do you want to be after this? He also hasn't planned it carefully. But, a little shadow in his mind, he will use his time to trade.

Trade affairs are not new to Arief. Since becoming a student at the University of 17 August 1945 (Untag), he has been selling milk around. After that, he also traded in Muslim clothing, to rental computers.

"My wife once opened a culinary business, but she stopped when she came with me to Jakarta. So, maybe my wife and I will continue the catering business that had stopped," he concluded.