The Ministry of Law\u2019s proposal to implement electronic voting, or\ne-voting, in the selection of regional office heads has received a\npositive response from a number of experts and public figures. The\ndiscussion emerged at the FIKOM UNPAD Connection forum titled \u2018E-Voting\nto Elect State Officials: How Ready Is Indonesia?\u2019 in Jakarta on\nWednesday (26\/8\/2026).<\/p>\n
In his opening remarks, Hendri Satrio, Chair of IKA FIKOM Unpad,\nexplained the reason for discussing e-voting. He said e-voting needs to\nbe examined to determine whether it could be applied in the upcoming\ngeneral election. \u2018Why is IKA FIKOM Unpad discussing e-voting? We want\nto explore and seek perspectives on whether e-voting could be\nimplemented on a broader scale, such as the 2029 General Election. That\nis what we want to explore,\u2019 said Hensa, as he is familiarly known.<\/p>\n
During the discussion, Andry Indrady, Head of the Legal Policy\nStrategy Agency at the Ministry of Law, explained that the e-voting idea\noriginated from Minister of Law Supratman Andi Agtas\u2019s desire to open\nspace for employee participation in the selection of senior leadership\npositions, particularly regional office heads. According to Andry, the\nprocess remains within the corridor of the talent management system and\napplicable civil service regulations. \u2018The Ministry of Law wants\nemployee participation, because these employees will ultimately be the\nsubjects led by their prospective leaders,\u2019 said Andry.<\/p>\n
Although it involves employee choice, Andry stressed that the\nmechanism does not take over the Minister of Law\u2019s authority to appoint\nofficials. \u2018There is no change to the Minister\u2019s authority. The\nauthority remains with the Minister. This is an additional instrument to\nprovide confidence to the Minister that the selected figure, having been\nprocedurally filtered and tested through employee participation, is the\nright choice,\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n
Andry also said the Ministry of Law is open to further discussion if\nthe system used internally were to be adopted at a higher level, such as\ngeneral elections. \u2018If you want to adopt it, perhaps it could be\ndiscussed so that it becomes more serious, and its scalability must also\nbe supported by deeper research,\u2019 said Andry.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, public policy observer Agus Pambagio appreciated the\ne-voting idea proposed by the Ministry of Law. However, he said\nreadiness in terms of human resources and the roadmap are matters the\ngovernment needs to highlight. \u2018Once again, e-voting is good, but I am\nconcerned about the readiness of human resources and the system. We know\nthat across Indonesia it is not yet good,\u2019 said Agus. \u2018Secondly, we\ncannot suddenly implement this policy without a roadmap. Our people are\nnot ready, so there must be stages,\u2019 he continued.<\/p>\n
In line with Agus, public policy expert Trubus Rahadiansyah also\nassessed the e-voting idea as positive and feasible, but he noted the\nimportance of its stages. This is because he is concerned about\nIndonesia\u2019s political culture, where if the stages are not robust, the\ne-voting mechanism and procedures could potentially be outwitted or\nmanipulated. \u2018We question how e-voting can truly move forward.\nNationally, the policy can work, but the stages must really be\nconsidered because our culture tends more towards trickery,\u2019 said\nTrubus.<\/p>\n
Unlike Agus and Trubus, constitutional law expert Denny Indrayana\nassessed that e-voting is not yet ready to be implemented in Indonesia.\nAccording to him, the current political conditions and electoral system\ndo not yet support the application of such technology.<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/observer-e-voting-proposal-must-be-carefully-studied-1787741495", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }