DKPP Issues Stern Warning to KPU Member Over Helicopter Ride to Cianjur

The Election Organiser Ethics Council (DKPP) has imposed a stern warning sanction on KPU RI member Parsadaan Harahap after finding him guilty of violating the Election Organiser Code of Ethics (KEPP). The sanction was read out by Council Chair Heddy Lugito during a verdict hearing for case number 10-PKE-DKPP/VI/2026 in Jakarta on Wednesday (29/7). “Imposing a stern warning sanction on the accused I, Parsadaan Harahap, as a member of the General Elections Commission, effective from the reading of this verdict,” Heddy stated in an official release on the DKPP website. In its considerations, the council assessed that Parsadaan lacked a sense of ethics and good governance by accepting and using a helicopter to attend the inauguration of the Polling Station Working Committees (KPPS) in Cidaun District, Cianjur Regency, on 25 January 2024. Council member I Dewa Kade Wiarsa Raka Sandi noted that there was no other reason for using the helicopter provided by the West Java Provincial KPU other than the urgency of the accused’s schedule to attend an event in Bengkulu Province. “The density or clash of a public official’s duty schedule does not automatically justify shifting the burden to public finances through the use of extraordinary facilities. Public officials are required to make rational prioritisation, assessing the possibility of delegation, schedule adjustments, or other forms of duty execution that can proportionally achieve institutional objectives,” Raka Sandi said. He added that the use of a helicopter could be justified or necessary in conditions of disaster, isolation, safety threats, or urgent election stages that could not be postponed. However, such objective conditions were not convincingly revealed in this case. Parsadaan’s argument that there was no ethical issue because a DKPP member was also present on the trip was also rejected. Ethical responsibility is personal to the office holder and cannot be transferred to the presence of another official. “The presence of an ethics enforcement body official does not turn an improper act into a proper one, just as their absence does not automatically prove a violation. Election organisers are required to have independent ethical judgement regarding their official actions,” he stated. Parsadaan was found to have violated several articles of DKPP Regulation Number 2 of 2017 concerning the Code of Ethics and Code of Conduct for Election Organisers. In the same case, the DKPP council also issued a stern warning to the second accused, Abdullah Sapi’i, a member of the West Java Provincial KPU. He was found guilty of violating the same regulations for being unprofessional and unaccountable, and for breaching the principles of propriety and decency by not questioning, reminding, objecting to, or recommending a more reasonable mode of transport to the relevant officials. The council noted that the second accused joined the first accused in the helicopter under the pretext that his division handled human resources and was involved in the formation, inauguration, training, and supervision of ad hoc bodies. “The second accused’s attitude is like the proverb ‘throwing a stone and hiding the hand’, or in other words, wanting to enjoy the helicopter ride but not wanting to take responsibility when a problem arises. He should have set an example for his subordinates,” said council member Ratna Dewi Pettalolo. Meanwhile, the third accused in the same case, KPU RI Secretary General Bernard Dermawan Sutrisno, had his name cleared as he was not proven to have violated the Election Organiser Code of Ethics.