Jakarta – The Civil Society Coalition sent an open letter to the Constitutional Court (MK) today, Thursday April 4, in which they said they want the court to summon President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo to testify in the 2024 presidential election dispute hearings.
Apart from Widodo, they also want the Constitutional Court to summon Minister of State Secretary Pratikno, Religious Affairs Minister Yaqut Cholil Qoumas and Home Affairs Minister Tito Karnavian.
Then, Attorney General Sanitiar Burhanuddin, national police chief General Listyo Sigit Prabowo, Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto, TNI (Indonesian military) commander General Agus Subiyanto and State Intelligence Agency (BIN) chief Budi Gunawan.
"Today we sent an open letter requesting that the Constitutional justices present and request information from the President of the Republic of Indonesia, Bapak [Mr] Joko Widodo, as well as eight ministers and officials of ministries and institutions whose statements we consider very important to be heard in today's PHPU [General Election Result Dispute] hearings," said Coalition representative Usman Hamid at the Constitutional Court building in Central Jakarta on Thursday.
Hamid conceded that the time available was limited. The Constitutional Court has 14 days to process disputes related to the 2024 presidential election.
He hopes however that the open letter they sent will be considered by the Constitutional Court justices. "This is to achieve material truth in order to achieve substantial justice", he said.
Hamid explained that they included a number of important things in the open letter. One of them is President Widodo's role in influencing the implementation of the elections.
"Be it through the distribution of social assistance (bansos), or the deployment of TNI and Polri [Indonesian police] officers", said Hamid.
The Coalition is made up of former Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) coordinator Adnan Topan Husodo, former Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) chairperson Agus Rahardjo, Transparency International Indonesia (TII) Secretary General Danang Widoyoko and constitutional law expert Feri Amsari.
Then there is also former KPK senior investigator Novel Baswedan, former KPK leader Saut Situmorang, Public Virtue Research Institute Advisory Board Chairperson Tamrin Amal, Amnesty International Indonesia Executive Director Usman Hamid as well as Association for Elections and Democracy (Perludem) Advisory Board member Tulisden Titi Anggraeni.
Meanwhile a number of organisations also took part in the letter such as the IM57+ Institute (former KPK employees), the Muhammadiyah Leadership Board Legal Aid and Public Advocacy Foundation (LBHAP PP Muhammadiyah), the Centre for Legal and Policy Studies (PSHK), the Public Virtue Research Institute, the Four Fingered Salute Movement and the Cross Tertiary Education Anti-Corruption Movement.
The Constitutional Court itself is scheduled to examine four of Widodo's ministers at the next presidential election dispute hearing on Friday April 5.
The four ministers are Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture Muhadjir Effendy, Coordinating Minister for the Economy Airlangga Hartarto, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani and Social Affairs Minister Tri Rismaharini (Risma). (yla/kid)
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "Koalisi Sipil Minta MK Panggil Pratikno hingga Tito ke Sidang Pilpres".]
