JAKARTA, LEGAL LITERACY —The Constitutional Court (MK) decided to grant part of the application of the United Development Party (PPP) regarding the filling of prospective members of the Tarakan City DPRD in the Electoral District (Dapil) 1, Central Tarakan District, Tarakan City, North Kalimantan Province. In the decision, the Constitutional Court disqualified a legislative candidate from the Golkar Party, Erick Hendrawan Septian Putra, who was a former convict and had not passed the 5-year cooling-off period. The Constitutional Court also ordered a revote without the participation of Erick Hendrawan Septian Putra. This verdict was read out by the Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court, Suhartoyo, on Thursday (6/6/2024) in the Plenary Session Room, Building 1, MK Jakarta.

“Granting the Applicant's request in part, declaring Erick Hendrawan Septian Putra disqualified as a candidate for member of the Tarakan City Regional People's Representative Council for the Tarakan City Electoral District 1, ordering the General Election Commission, in casu the Tarakan City General Election Commission, to carry out a revote only for 1 (one) type of ballot paper, namely the Regional People's Representative Council Ballot Paper for the Regency/City in the election of candidates for members of the Tarakan City Regional People's Representative Council for the Tarakan City Electoral District 1 without including Erick Hendrawan Septian Putra,” said the Head of the Panel of Judges, Suhartoyo, accompanied by 8 other Constitutional Justices.

In the considerations expressed by Constitutional Justice Enny Nurbaningsih, the Court emphasized that the purpose of holding elections is to present leaders and people's representatives who are clean, honest, and have integrity and are not tarnished. To achieve this, prospective legislative members who have been convicted must have passed a period of 5 (five) years after serving their prison sentence in order to make adjustments (adaptation) in the community to prove that after serving their sentence, they have truly changed for the better and will not repeat their actions.

Therefore, according to the Court, the 5 (five) year period also provides an opportunity for voters to critically assess prospective legislative members who will be selected as good choices who have shortcomings and advantages to be known by the general public (notoir feiten). Thus, prospective legislative members who have completed their prison terms based on court decisions are required to wait or there is a cooling-off period of 5 (five) years after no longer being a convict to be able to nominate themselves as prospective legislative members.