Court fines KPU Rp 1t for failing to register voters
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The General Election Commission (KPU) was ordered on Thursday to pay a Rp 1 trillion (US$110.49 million) fine by a district court, which found it guilty of not registering some 30 million people, thus denying them their right to vote in the April legislative elections.
The class action suit was filed with the Central Jakarta District Court by an advocacy team against the KPU after some 30 million people were unable to vote in the April 5 general elections.
The team, comprising 34 lawyers, submitted the suit on April 13 on behalf of six people who claimed to have represented six regions across the country.
The six people were Zamzami from Aceh representing Sumatra and Bangka Belitung islands, Jerry Rompah from Jakarta representing Java, Dachtiar from Banjarmasin representing Kalimantan, Alif Kamal from Makassar representing Sulawesi, Abdul Hakim from Kupang representing Bali and Nusa Tenggara provinces, and Charles Imdir from Sorong representing Papua and Maluku provinces.
Presiding judge Lilik Mulyadi said the KPU was proven guilty of failing to carry out its task in registering the 30 million eligible voters.
Citing Article 53 of the Law No. 12/2003 on general elections, he said the process of voter registration is the responsibility of the KPU.
"The plaintiff has managed to prove that denying people the right to vote is a violation of the law," Lilik said during the trial as quoted by Antara.
The Rp 1 trillion fine was to compensate material losses worth some Rp 450 billion and non-material losses of Rp 550 billion to the victims. The 30 million people denied voting rights will each receive Rp 15,000 each in compensation for administrative and transportation fees.
The panel of judges also ordered the establishment of a committee designed to ensure the compensation money went to the right people.
The court rejected the plaintiff's demand of confiscating the KPU office and all of the facilities granted to the commission members.
In response, KPU deputy chairman Ramlan Surbakti said his office would file an appeal, arguing that the failure to register the 30 million voters was not intentional.
"The task to register voters was not just our job, but it also required participation from the public. We tried our best and we even extended the closing date for registration several times to let more people register themselves," he said.
Ramlan cast doubt over the huge number of unregistered voters as mentioned in the suit. He claimed that based on the commission's date, up to 91 percent of the 150 million eligible voters had already been registered.
The data, he added, was also supported by reports from "reputable" organizations, such as the Institute of Research on Education and Information of Social and Economic Affairs and the National Democratic Institution.
"Therefore, it should be taken into question whether or not those who claimed to be unregistered had actively tried to register, because registration is a two-way street," said Ramlan.
KPU's lawyer, Yodi Dermawan Basuki, lamented the court ruling, and concluded that it was "too excessive".
He said the mechanism of voter registration was already set out in Law No. 12/2003. "In addition to the KPU's role, the public must also play a role in the process," he said.
Raja Nasution, from the advocacy team, welcomed the ruling and said the court had fully understood that the rights of the unregistered voters had been violated.
He explained that the number of 30 million unregistered voters was confirmed by a report from the Center for Electoral Reform, which said that 20 percent of 150 million eligible voters had their right to vote taken away because they were not registered by the commission.