Lesson from Orient Case

The Constitutional Court revoked Orient\'s status as the regent-elect of Sabu Raijua, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT). The case, which pertained to Orient’s US citizenship status, showed the urgency for data integration.

Kompas/Heru Sri Kumoro

The dispute over the results of the 2020 Pesisir Selatan Regent election (telephone screen) and the dispute over the results of the 2020 Sabu Raijua Regent election which was held by the Constitutional Court and broadcast online via the Youtube channel of the Constitutional Court, Tuesday (23/3/2021).

JAKARTA, KOMPAS -- The Constitutional Court\'s decision on Thursday (15/4/2021), which overruled the victory of Sabu Raijua regent candidate, Orient Patriot Riwu Kore, due to citizenship issues, has served a lesson for the government to organize cross-agency data integration. Without improving data integration, cases like Orient can reoccur.

Orient, who holds US citizenship, passed the nomination stage, then won the 2020 Sabu Raijua regional election. In fact, it is a prerequisite for a regional head candidate to be an Indonesian citizen. The multi-layered failure of various agencies to detect Orient’s dual citizenship has wasted tens of billions of rupiah in the regional election budget, as well as ignited conflict in society.

In decision No. 135/PHP.BUP-XIX/2021 read out by Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court (MK) Anwar Usman at the Constitutional Court Building, in Jakarta, yesterday, the Court stated that Orient and Thobias Uly’s status as regent and deputy regent-elect for Sabu Raijua, was overruled. Apart from that, they were also disqualified as candidate pair No. 2 in the Sabu Raijua regional election.

Also read: Orient’s Status Remains Unclear

The Constitutional Court ordered the General Election Commission (KPU) of Sabu Raijua to organize revoting (PSU) for the elections, followed by candidate pair No. 1 (Nikodemus N Rihi Heke and Yohanis Uly Kale) and candidate pair No. 3 (Takem Radja Pono) and Herman Hegi

Radja Haba). This revote must have been carried out within a grace period of 60 working days from the time the decision was read.

KOMPAS/DIAN DEWI PURNAMASARI

The elected regent of Sabu Raijua Regency, East Nusa Tenggara, Orient P Riwu Kore, answered questions from the panel of judges of the Constitutional Court panel of Suhartoyo during a dispute over the results of the regional elections for Sabu Raijua Regency, Monday (15/3/2021). Orient is present by teleconference.

Ready for revote

KPU member, I Dewa Kade Wiarsa Raka Sandi, said that the KPU will do the Court\'s ruling optimally. There are several things that have been prepared, namely voters data, the formation of an ad hoc body and the budget. As an illustration, in the last election, the local administration disbursed Rp 15 billion.

According to Dewa, the Orient case should serve as a lesson for all parties. In particular for the organizers, the principle of accuracy and prudence in the factual verification of a candidate for regional head is important. However, according to him, the KPU can only work in accordance with the rule of law and cannot work alone to prevent the dual citizenship problem. It takes all parties’ cooperation. Openness and honesty of all parties are also needed.

Professor of Constitutional Law at Bandung’s Parahyangan Catholic University, Asep Warlan Yusuf, assessed that the Orient case occurred because of a problem in the upstream, namely in the population data system. The population data system has not been able to accurately filter a person\'s citizenship status. Then, this problem continued to the factual verification process of the regional head candidates, which was also not strict. As a result, candidates who do not meet the citizenship requirements can also run as candidates in the regional head election.

Also read: Foreigner Wins Regional Election, Problem in Data Synergy

This Orient case, continued Asep, provides lessons for election administrators and the government to build an integrated data system. The system structure must be improved and strengthened. The KPU, the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Ministry of Law and Human Rights need to sit together because many problems with the status of the candidates for election and regional elections depend on these agencies. For example, regarding citizenship status.

If the problem is not fixed, he said, cases like this could happen again. As a result, this makes it difficult for all parties, including the community.

Previously, in 2016, there were also problems related to the detection of Arcandra Tahar\'s citizenship. About two weeks after being inaugurated as Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources, he was found to have dual citizenship, namely Indonesia and the US.

KOMPAS/KORNELIS KEWA AMA

Sabu Raijua regent candidate Orient P Riwu Kore, Saturday (6/2/2021).

Dishonest

In the legal considerations read out by Constitutional Judge Saldi Isra, the Constitutional Court found that Orient had never stated that he held a US passport. In fact, Orient still holds a US passport with a validity period of 2017-2027, which is an extension of the previous passport with a validity period of 2007-2017.

"Orient has never been honest about his citizenship status, including not acknowledging this status when registering as a candidate for regent of Sabu Raijua regency in the 2020 Regent and Deputy Regent Election," said Saldi.

Saldi emphasized that Indonesia adopts a single citizenship system so that an Indonesian citizen is not allowed to be attached to another citizenship status. Thus, Orient does not meet the requirements of citizens, as stipulated in Article 7 of Law No. 10/2016 concerning Regional Election, to nominate themselves as candidates in the Sabu Raijua regional election.

Orient has never been honest about his citizenship status.

Meanwhile, in terms of legal considerations, Constitutional Judge Suhartoyo also explained that there were specific conditions in the Sabu

Raijua regional election so that the Constitutional Court had strong reasons to deviate from the enactment of Article 157 Paragraph 5 of Law No. 10/2016 and Article 7 Paragraph 2 of the Constitutional Court Regulation No. 6/2020.

As is known, the submission of a request for a dispute settlement over the Sabu Raijua regional election has passed the deadline.

However, Suhartoyo said that the specific conditions in the Sabu Raijua regional election were only known and questioned after the completion of the recapitulation stages of the vote count results and the announcement of regent and deputy regent-elect. However, the candidate pairs-elect has not yet been sworn-in as regional heads.

He said that the case was a legal case that had never occurred before and had not been anticipated in the statutory regulations so that the Constitutional Court needed to consider the application of the grace period for filing a (dispute-settlement) request in order to obtain clarity regarding the specific conditions in the case.

This article was translated by Kurniawan Siswoko.