Poll disputes to be tried via video link

Poll disputes to be tried via video link

P.C. Naommy, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Constitutional Court will use videoconferencing to facilitate
hearings on election outcome disputes from all across the
country.

"This technology will make our jobs easier and save time in
hearing witnesses' testimonies from all across the country,"
Constitutional Court chief Jimly Asshiddique said on Friday.

Jimly said time constraints were a problem for the court,
which expects to hear thousands of cases. "We have so little time
with so much to do".

According to the court's practice and administration
guidebook, the judges have to settle all disputes related to the
outcome of legislative elections within a maximum of 30 days,
while the period allotted for the resolution of disputes over the
presidential elections is only 14 days. The hearing of a case
must commence within three days after it is filed with the court.

Apropos of the announcement, Jimly was speaking on the
sidelines of a videoconference meeting with representatives of
the regional General Election Commissions (KPU), the regional
Election Supervisory Bodies (Panwaslu), political parties and the
Regional Legislative Councils (DPD) to inaugurate the use of the
video link ups to be used for long-distance court hearings.

Indonesia's courts have previously used live video feeds to
hear testimony from witnesses living overseas. A videoconference
hearing took place almost two years ago at the South Jakarta
District Court, when the judge heard testimony from former
president BJ Habibie, who was in Hamburg, Germany, in the
corruption scandal involving Golkar Party leader Akbar Tandjung.

At the trial Habibie's testimony was admitted by the judge as
a matter of court record.

The second such hearing was during the trial of Muslim cleric
Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, when the judges heard testimony from several
Jamaah Islamiyah detainees via a video feed from Singapore.

In the Ba'asyir case, however, the judges refused to allow
their powerful evidence to be part of the court record, saying
that there was no legal basis to support the use of such
technology.

Asked about the legal basis for the technology, Jimly said
that Law No. 23/2003 on Constitutional Court acknowledges the use
of electronic evidence and long-distance testimony for court
sessions.

Article 3 of this law says that a court session on election
disputes can be categorized as an exclusive issue, for which the
trial should be facilitated.

Jimly added that during the videoconference, his team also
familiarized all the participants with what types of cases could
be filed with the court.

"Cases on money politics, and vote calculations at polling
stations do not fall under our authority. They are under the
authority of the KPU, Panwaslu or the police if criminal
violations are involved," said Jimly.

The complaints which can be filed with the Constitutional
Court are those arising from KPU's announcement of election
outcomes. Only political parties and Regional Representative
Council candidates are allowed to file complaints.

According to the KPU schedule, the outcome of the legislative
elections will be announced between April 26 and April 28. The
outcome of presidential election will be announced on July 26,
and if a run-off election is required, the announcement will be
made between Oct. 5 and Oct. 12.