House of Representatives Protests MPR Quiz Controversy, Demands Rematch

Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Cucun Ahmad Syamsurizal, has joined in protesting the judging controversy in the quiz competition (LCC) on the socialisation of the four pillars, organised by the MPR General Secretariat among high schools in West Kalimantan.

Cucun, who claims to be a member of the MPR, expressed his protest and demanded that the MPR appoint competent judges.

“Basically, we as MPR members also convey our protest to the DPR secretariat for appointing the right judges,” Cucun said after the DPR plenary session at the parliamentary complex on Tuesday (12/5).

He hopes that this case does not lead to an evaluation of the MPR. Cucun expressed surprise that with the same answer, the judges gave different scores.

“I view this, it shouldn’t happen that there’s an evaluation at the MPR secretariat for appointing judges, how can the same answer get different scores,” he said.

Meanwhile, Chair of Commission X for education, Hetifah Sjaifudian, encouraged the competition to be held again. Hetifah also expressed concern and offered an apology.

“So that this runs fairly, we encourage that specifically for the event in West Kalimantan, this competition or match be held again,” she said.

Hetifah urged the MPR to provide clarification on the case. She does not want the case to recur because it could damage trust in the MPR institution.

“I think the MPR RI certainly needs to issue an official clarification and earlier, the competition be repeated so that in the end we can get the best schools,” said Hetifah.

The viral incident in the final of the MPR RI Four Pillars Quiz Competition in West Kalimantan Province began when the judging panel gave different scores to the same answer from teams B and C in a buzzer question.

“The BPK leadership is chosen from and by members. However, to become a BPK member, ties to regional representation are still maintained. In selecting BPK members, the DPR is required to consider input from which institution?” asked the host, quoted from the MPR YouTube on Monday (11/5).

Team C from SMAN 1 Pontianak, which pressed the buzzer first, answered that BPK members are selected by the House of Representatives while considering input from the Regional Representative Council and formalised by the President.

However, one of the judges, Head of the MPR General Secretariat’s Evaluation Bureau, Dyastasita, gave team C a score of -5 for that answer.

But when team B gave the same answer, the judge gave them 10 points.

“Yes, the essence of the answer is correct. Score 10,” said Dyastasita.

One of the participants from team C immediately protested. They showed confused expressions because their answer was penalised even though it was the same.

“Excuse me, earlier we answered the same as team B. The same,” said team C.

However, judge Dyastasita reasoned that team C’s answer did not include the Regional Representative Council.

“Earlier team C mentioned, the consideration from the DPD was not there. Just DPR,” said Dyastasita.

Team C protested again, saying their initial answer had included the Regional Representative Council. But Dyastasita stood firm.

“So the judging panel opined that there was no Regional Representative Council,” said Dyastasita.

Team C continued to protest and asked the judging panel to ask the audience’s opinion on whether their answer included the DPD. But Dyastasita said the decision remains with the judging panel.

Another judge, Head of the Secretariat of the MPR Socialisation Board, Indri Wahyuni, instead asked the participants to clarify their articulation when answering questions.

“Like this, it was warned from the beginning, right, articulation is important. So, get used to answering with clear articulation. If you think it’s clear, but the judging panel assesses it’s not because they didn’t hear your articulation clearly, that means the judging panel has the right to give -5. So once again, we warn to pay attention to articulation,” said Indri Wahyuni.