Markus Junianto Sihaloho – Just weeks into his new job, Constitutional Court chief Hamdan Zoelva has come under fire for supporting a position completely at odds with both Indonesian electoral law and international practice.
Hamdan said he supported his predecessor Akil Mochtar's ruling in the dispute surrounding Bali's gubernatorial election in May this year, that it was legal for an individual to be represented by another person in casting his or her vote in general elections.
The practice is in fact not supported by electoral law as it can lead to vote buying, intimidation and electoral fraud by multiple voting.
Nevertheless, and without citing any legal basis whatsoever, the chief guardian of the Constitution last week stunned legal experts by claiming voting by proxy was not only legitimate in the Bali gubernatorial election, but also in other areas such as Papua.
"In the Constitutional Court's ruling, such a thing is possible. One example is the noken [woven bag] system in Papua. In the noken system, individuals can be represented in casting their votes and it is not a direct system as in other regions. In many cases the court recognizes such a scheme, not just in Bali," Hamdan said on Friday, as quoted by Tribunnews.com.
The deputy secretary general of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), Hasto Kristiyanto, challenged Hamdan's statements. "Hamdan said that in Jakarta, noken is not recognized. But that it is in Bali. So how are Jakarta and Bali different?" Hasto said.
The chief justice's position could be a major threat to the orderly and fair conduct of the upcoming 2014 legislative and presidential elections, Hasto said. In the wake of the previous chief justice's naming as a corruption suspect, the question has arisen whether Akil acted alone in allegedly fixing cases.
"When the Constitutional Court's rulings have obviously been based on their own made-up policies, the question is, why had they decided on such a ruling? Whose interests were they trying to side with?" Hasto said.
PDI-P filed a lawsuit with the Constitutional Court after the Bali gubernatorial election in May, alleging the vote count was manipulated at the subdistrict, district and provincial levels, after the PDI-P's candidate pair lost by fewer than 1,000 votes.
"Let us all together review every ruling made by the Constitutional court, [check] which ones were being honorably done, and which ones were being disgraced by practices of [promoting personal] interests," Hasto said.