Maintain Conduciveness and Prevent Black Campaigns, Legal Process for Election Participants Postponed
In order to maintain conduciveness and also prevent the possibility of black campaign practices that could be carried out by irresponsible parties, the security forces postponed the legal process for election participants.
The Chief of the National Police of the Republic of Indonesia (Kapolri) General Listyo Sigit Prabowo has issued a regulation to temporarily postpone the legal process involving participants in democratic celebrations and political contestation in the General Election (Pemilu) in 2024.
This regulation has been stated in the National Police Chief’s ST with number: ST/1160/V/RES.1.24.2023 concerning the postponement of legal processes related to the disclosure of criminal cases involving participants in the upcoming political contest. The existence of the Telegram Letter (ST) has also been confirmed by the Head of the Public Relations Division (Kadiv Humas) of the National Police, Inspector General of Police (Irjen Pol) Sandi Nugroho, who claims that this regulation is necessary to maintain conduciveness ahead of the General Election.
Therefore, in order to maximize the maintenance of a conducive atmosphere, the security forces have postponed it first so that it does not affect how the leadership circulation runs every five years in the future, and also does not hinder the various interests of certain parties in its implementation.
Even though this regulation has been issued, it does not necessarily mean that all legal processes involving election participants are simply postponed. Instead, the decision will be taken individually by the investigating party based on the title of the case or the results of developments in the field.
It should be noted that the efforts made by security forces to delay the legal processing of election participants cannot be interpreted as if law enforcers are deliberately neglecting their duties and nor can it be interpreted as meaning that Indonesia cannot enforce the law firmly against participants. perpetrators of law violations.
The public should also be able to understand and understand that this is only used to anticipate the possibility or potential of the law enforcement process being used as a political tool by certain parties. Because, it cannot be denied that in a contest, of course all parties participating want to achieve victory, but there are irresponsible parties who actually use any means to win.
Therefore, the security forces are trying to close all these loopholes, so that the possibility of spreading issues by irresponsible parties and actually further dividing society by spreading fake news or hoaxes can be minimized.
Of course, the postponement of the legal process is also a form of caution to always ensure that society remains conducive and does not become divided or even disrupt people’s focus and concentration in the election, and instead make it busy by raising certain issues.
This anticipation is indeed worthy of very high appreciation because it is clear that if it is not carried out, it is very likely that it will be infiltrated or covered up by certain irresponsible parties by carrying out black campaign practices which will actually increasingly become an obstacle to the creation of a successful General Election. in accordance with the principles and provisions of applicable laws.
Meanwhile, Executive Director of the Indonesian Police Strategic Studies Institute (Lemkapi), Dr. Edi Hasibuan also spoke out regarding the decision issued by the National Police Chief regarding the postponement of the legal process for the 2024 Election participants.
According to him, the National Police Chief really wants the situation and conditions in the country ahead of the democratic party to remain conducive. The reason is, as the D-day of the General Election approaches, of course the political temperature will increase and become more heated, resulting in criminal reports against Election participants appearing everywhere and these reports could come from contestants or other parties who are compete too.
If, for example, the security forces are not wise in responding to and handling all of this, then it will have the potential to cause extraordinary turmoil in society and could disrupt the prevailing security and order. So that the election remains conducive.
On another occasion, the National Police Commission (Kompolnas) also gave full support to the National Police Chief’s policy as long as it was aimed at maintaining the objectivity and impartiality of investigations and fingerprints. So it is not intended to deliberately take action against certain parties and ignore action against other parties.
Legal processing for participants in the upcoming 2024 General Election has been officially postponed. This is in line with the ST from the National Police Chief in his efforts to continue to maintain conduciveness and also prevent the possibility of black campaign practices that could be carried out by irresponsible parties and further damage the principles of democracy in Indonesia.
