Former House Commission II Members Say ‘Gibran Article’ Was Never Discussed

Several members of the 2019–2024 term of the House of Representatives’ Commission II have insisted that Article 18(3) of General Elections Commission (KPU) Regulation No. 19 of 2023 was never discussed at consultation meetings with the House.

The article is being considered in Constitutional Court case No. 01-PHPU.PRES-XXIV/2026, which concerns a challenge to the validity of the requirements for Gibran Rakabuming Raka to stand as a vice-presidential candidate in the 2024 presidential election. The petitioners have described Article 18(3) of the KPU regulation as the ‘Gibran article through and through’.

‘As I showed the material to the people here this afternoon, we concluded that the article was never discussed,’ said Ahmad Doli Kurnia, chair of the House Commission II for the 2019–2024 term, in Central Jakarta on Sunday (18 October).

Several other members of the commission’s 2019–2024 term attended, including Guspardi Gaus, Mardani Ali Sera, Mohammad Muraz, Ongku Hasibuan, Hugua, Ibnu Mahmud, Andi Rahman and Anak Agung Bagus.

Doli said that since the article became a topic of public discussion, he and other Commission II members had kept in contact and met that day. He said they had also checked with other institutions, including the Election Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) and the Election Organisers’ Ethics Council (DKPP), as well as election activists, to establish whether the article had been discussed.

He said the checks confirmed it had not been discussed and that it had not even been presented at the consultation meeting.

‘We cross-checked with other institutions, such as the DKPP and Bawaslu, and also with colleagues who often take part in public consultations,’ he said.

‘The information we have is the same as theirs: what we discussed was the draft attached to the letter dated 15 September 2023. It did not contain the article that is now being mentioned or has become controversial,’ he added.

Doli said the previous Commission II had no authority to find out whether the article had been inserted without proper procedure or what the motive might have been. He also said the commission members had fulfilled their responsibilities at the time.

‘As for where it came from, who put it forward, and so on, we have completed our responsibilities as members of the 2019–2024 House. We do not have the position or authority to investigate their motives or where it came from,’ Doli said.

He also explained why his signature appeared on the conclusions of the consultation meeting on the KPU regulation. He said the chair had to sign the conclusions of each meeting.

Doli said the meeting had agreed on four KPU regulations and several Bawaslu regulations. However, he said responsibility for the content of the KPU regulations rested with the KPU, which prepared the drafts, held public consultations, submitted them to the House and explained which provisions were discussed.

‘I want to stress again that the issue now causing controversy, Article 18(3), was never discussed, either at the meeting or, as I recall, during the public consultation,’ he said.