JAKARTA —
Jusuf Kalla (JK), who is known for always speaking bluntly, made this statement during a discussion at the Faculty of Social Sciences and Political Sciences (FISIP) UI, Depok, West Java, Thursday (7/3).
“We have just passed a democratic way of government with this election which for us, for many parties who think that this needs to be corrected, needs to be evaluated. “For me, I once said that this was the worst election in the history of elections since 1955,” said JK.
JK explained that this was because the election was suspected to have been arranged by a minority group consisting of a handful of people in government, and parties who had a lot of money. If things like this continue, he is worried that Indonesia will return to running an authoritarian system.
Former 10th and 12th Vice President of Indonesia, Jusuf Kalla, when interviewed at his office in Jakarta, March 19 2020. (REUTERS/Ajeng Dinar Ulfiana)
There are so many groups of various elements of society who question the state of democracy in the country, including outbursts of anger and protests that consider the election not transparent, “confirms my suspicions,” said JK.
JK also brought up various issues that were developing in society ahead of the presidential election, related to the use of state facilities which were deliberately launched to win certain candidate pairs.
“Starting from the problem of large social assistance funds, the problem of threats, the problem of persuasion. The combination of all of that certainly caused what I said earlier (to be the worst election). So the democracy that we hope for, long for, the people's votes are bought,” he explained.
According to him, one way to answer all these things is through constitutional channels, namely with the right of inquiry. This is important so that the new government can run with full trust from the public.
“We will solve it constitutionally because if it is unconstitutional, this problem will be resolved by street parliaments throughout society. And that causes us to retreat again to situations that come,” he stressed, adding, “currently, for example, questionnaires or whatever, special committee or whatever, must be resolved there. So that this country can run, let's not destroy this country again.”
Expert: Forms of Fraud in the 2024 Election are Structured, Systematic and Massive
Speaking in the same forum, constitutional law expert Bivitri Susanti admitted that in every election there is bound to be fraud, but what happened in the 2024 election was structured, systematic and massive (TSM).
“If you compare it with the old ones, I think this is the worst. Cheating always exists. “We all know that cheating always exists, but what is TSM cheating, there is also cheating, but the weight of it this year is too extraordinary,” he said.
Constitutional law expert Bivitri Susanti. (Photo: PSHK)
He assessed that the use of state facilities and utilization of the performance of the state civil apparatus (ASN) to form a large coalition in Joko Widodo's government, not only killed the opposition as a controller and supervisor, but also made it easier for fraud to occur in the election.
“It's as if the government wants to (make) any law, it passes like the New Order, the DPR is really a rubber stamp. OK, let's kill the Corruption Eradication Committee, in 2 weeks it will become law. OK, let's make a Minerba law, 6 days to become the law. We want to move the capital to IKN, in 21 days it will become law. And since 2017 there has been no right of inquiry. 2017 was the last time for the right to inquiry against the Corruption Eradication Commission. “So the monitoring function is actually dead,” he explained.
On the other hand, civil society groups who criticize the government have recently been frightened by the ITE Law, and have even been threatened with arrest and being thrown into prison. Those who often speak out about fraud in elections, he said, are always labeled as destroying unity and integrity.
“Finally, our democracy may sound beautiful with lots of development, developmentism, but actually it is porous inside. And this is what is actually terrible,” he stressed.
Secretary General of PDI-Perjuangan: 2024 Election is a Combination of the 1971 and 2009 Elections
PDI Perjuangan Secretary General (Sekjen) Hasto Kristiyanto compared the 2024 election, which he considered full of fraud, to a combination of the 1971 election and the 2009 election under Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY).
PDIP Secretary General Hasto Kristiyanto. (Photo: Nurhadi)
He considered the 1971 election to be full of massive fraud by ABRI. Meanwhile, in the 2009 election, there were those who used social assistance for electoral purposes.
Hasto claimed that 54 percent of regional heads from his party were under pressure ahead of the election.
“Everything was suppressed by the way the department heads were summoned first in opposition to the regional heads. Then a mapping was carried out on the legal problems faced by the regional heads and then this happened as an instrument for pressure,” said Hasto.
He also mentioned the attack launched against presidential candidate number 03 Ganjar Pranowo when he wanted to submit a right of inquiry regarding the 2024 election. Ganjar was actually reported to the Corruption Eradication Committee (KPK) by IPW Chairman Sugeng Teguh Santoso, alleging gratification from the Central Java BPD.
Even so, said Hasto, PDI Perjuangan has the option to carry out structured resistance.
“So this combination (elections) of 1971 and 2009 must be opposed in a measurable manner. So our option is to put up a measurable resistance. What is the measurable resistance? We see the reaction. Only then did Mr. Ganjar propose that the right to inquiry be immediately shocked. Someone reported it to the Corruption Eradication Commission. “There were a lot of these shocks,” he explained.
“The media has started to be shocked. Tempo, Kompas, Media Indonesia. “And this is the populist face which turns out to be hiding behind the words procedural democracy,” he concluded.
The General Election Commission (KPU) will only officially announce the winner of the 2024 election after receiving a recapitulation of the vote counting results, which is expected to be completed around March 20. (gi/em)