Hotli Simanjuntak, Banda Aceh – The Banda Aceh State Administrative Court (PTUN) on Friday rejected a lawsuit filed against the Aceh elections commission by eight legislative candidates who failed the Koran test required as part of their nomination.
The court's sole judge, Indra Kesuma Nusantara, said the decision was in line with Article 2 (G) of Law No. 5/1986 and Law No. 9/2004 stipulating the PTUN had no right to try cases related to the results and preparations of elections.
"Based on the laws, we turned down the lawsuit," Indra said. He added that in accordance with prevailing regulations, the court would allow the plaintiffs 14 days in which to consider its ruling.
Plaintiffs' lawyer Afridal Darmi said he would discuss the ruling with his clients. "But we will for sure appeal to a higher court," he told The Jakarta Post.
The plaintiffs filed the lawsuit after arguing that the Koran recitation test, as stipulated in provincial Bylaw No. 3/2008 on Aceh political parties, was mandatory only for legislative candidates from local political parties.
They insisted the requirements for candidates representing national parties be regulated through the national elections bylaw, thus exempting them from the Koran test. But in practice, they claimed, the elections commission in Aceh subjected them to the provincial bylaw.
"This is in line with the special status of Aceh, which has its own government as stipulated in Law No 11/2006 on Aceh Government," Ilham Sahputra, vice chairman of the Aceh independent elections commission, said Saturday.
He added the commission had expected such lawsuits, especially because of the initial vociferous criticism of the Koran reciting skill required for Acehnese legislative candidates.
"We have prepared ourselves for possible lawsuits emerging from the implementation of the bylaw," Ilham said.
Of the 1,368 legislative candidates nominated for the Aceh provincial legislative council for the 2009 general election, 81 failed the Koran test. All these candidates had been nominated by national parties.
In regency legislative councils, hundreds of nominees, again mostly from national parties, failed the test. However, only eight filed lawsuits against the elections commission.
Of the eight, three were nominated by the Patriotic Party, three by the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and the rest by the Democratic Party.
Dubbed "the Veranda of Mecca" for its stringent Islamic outlook, Aceh has implemented Islamic sharia law since 2004. Hundreds of regional bylaws have since been passed in support of this.
Among the bylaws include one calling for flogging for those committing "sex crimes", gambling or drinking alcohol, and another requiring legislative candidates be well-versed in reading the Koran.