The Constitutional Court has made assurances that it would be independent and fair in handling the dispute over the result of the presidential election. The government has also guaranteed the security of the court hearing.
By
·5 minutes read
JAKARTA, KOMPAS — The Constitutional Court (MK) began hearing the dispute over the result of the presidential election on Friday morning and has made assurances it would be independent and transparent in handling the case.
The MK has invited the public to monitor the handling of the legal suit filed by presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto and his running mate Sandiaga Uno over the results of the election. The court is to broadcast the hearing live through various platforms, such as television and internet streaming.
The MK spokesperson, who is also a constitutional judge, I Dewa Gede Palguna, said in Jakarta on Thursday that the court guaranteed that all the judges would be independent in handling the election disputes. The nine judges have prepared themselves and have examined the appeal documents and evidence provided by Prabowo and Sandi’s campaign team.
"All pieces of evidence are reviewed one by one. The independence and integrity of judges are the most important things because if a judge loses his independence the court will lose its credibility. The principle of prudence and accuracy is applied by all judges, along with all the court’s staff, in examining the case," Palguna said.
At the preliminary hearing, the applicant is to be given an opportunity to read out the appeal request. After that, the General Elections Commission (KPU), as the defendant, is to deliver its response in the next session, which is to be on Monday.
The court hearing is to take place from June 17 to 24, while the verdict is scheduled to be issued on June 28. The plaintiff, defendant and related parties are only allowed to bring a maximum of 20 people each to attend the hearing. On Thursday, the two presidential and vice-presidential candidates, namely Joko Widodo, Ma\'ruf Amin, Prabowo Subianto and Sandiaga Uno, had confirmed if they would not attend.
Spokesperson for Prabowo and Sandi’s campaign team (BPN), Andre Rosiade, said they had decided not to attend the hearing so that their supporters would not come to witness it.
"It\'s feared that if Pak Prabowo and Bang Sandi come, supporters would also come in droves. So, we decided not to attend, hoping that the supporters would also not come," Andre said.
The Prabowo-Sandi legal team was to send 15 representatives to the courtroom, consisting of eight lawyers and seven BPN officials. Bambang Widjojanto as the head of the legal team is to read the appeal request.
The legal team of Jokowi and Amin as a related party had handed information to the court. The members of the Jokowi-Amin legal team who were present included Yusril Ihza Mahendra and Ade Irfan Pulungan. Yusril said the legal arguments of the related parties were based on Prabowo and Sandiaga\'s appeal request submitted to the court on May 24.
The related parties did not provide legal arguments about the revision of the appeal document submitted by Prabowo and Sandi to the MK on June 10.
The people remain calm
The government has guaranteed that Jakarta would remain secure during the first hearing of the election dispute.
Politics, Law and Security Coordinating Minister Wiranto said security forces, both the National Police and the Military (TNI), were on full alert to prevent the worst possibilities. "The security apparatus is always vigilant. It has been anticipated. The people should be calm. Both in the capital and in areas that we consider critical, the security forces will be on guard," Wiranto said.
National Police chief Gen. (Pol) Tito Karnavian said he appreciated the attitude of former presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto, who a few days ago appealed to his supporters to entrust the legal process to the Constitutional Court and asked his supporters not to come to the court during the hearing.
However, the National Police are still prepared for various possibilities. "The National Police and TNI always anticipate the worst-case scenario so that about 17,000 officers from the National Police, including from the regions, will not be sent back home even though they have been here for 1.5 months, both Brimob and Sabhara. They joined the police members from the national and Jakarta offices. The number of troops from the TNI was about 16,000 They will be standby, according to the need and the estimate of the intelligence unit," said Tito.
Tito further said that intelligent monitoring was conducted every day to observe mass movements during the hearing at the Constitutional Court. At present, the police predict the possibility of a popular movement, but it is not expected to be large.
However, the National Police say they would not allow demonstrations in front of the Constitutional Court building. The protestors can express their opinions in front of the Arjuna Wijaya statue several hundred meters from the Constitutional Court.
Such approaches were made based on experiences from the demonstration against the election results near the office of the Elections Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu), which had led to riots on May 21 and 22. "We also learned from the Bawaslu case. We gave discretion in the night, but it turned out to be misused. Therefore, we do not want to take any risks," he said.