New Rules of Procedure Take Effect, DPR Immediately "Accelerates" Evaluation of DKPP Leadership

JAKARTA, KOMPAS – The DPR immediately exercised its new authority to evaluate the leaders of the institutions it selected after the new Rules of Procedure or Tatib came into effect on Tuesday (4/2/2025). The leadership of the Honorary Council of Election Organizers or DKPP was the first target to be evaluated. The evaluation by Commission II of the DPR was conducted in a closed meeting this afternoon.

The meeting with the agenda of evaluating the performance of the DKPP leadership for 2022-2027 is outlined in the hearing invitation from Commission II of the DPR addressed to the DKPP leadership. In the invitation numbered B/957/PW.01.02.2025 dated February 7, 2025, it is mentioned that the new authority of the DPR resulting from the revision of the DPR's Rules of Procedure serves as the basis for the meeting invitation.

"Based on Article 228A Paragraph (1) and Paragraph (2) of the DPR RI Regulation Number 1 of 2025 concerning Amendments to DPR RI Regulation No 1/2020 on Rules of Procedure which states 'in order to enhance the supervisory function and maintain the honor of the DPR regarding the results of the commission's discussions as referred to in Article 227 Paragraph (2), the DPR may periodically evaluate the candidates who have been determined and the evaluation results as referred to in Paragraph (1) are binding and submitted by the commission conducting the evaluation to the DPR RI Leadership for follow-up in accordance with the applicable mechanism,' as quoted from the invitation."

The leadership of DKPP for the 2022-2027 period consists of seven individuals, namely the Chairman of DKPP Heddy Lugito and six members of DKPP, namely Muhammad Tio Aliansyah, Ratna Dewi Pettalolo, J Kristiadi, I Dewa Kade Wiarsa Raka Sandi, Totok Hariyono, and Yulianto Sudrajat. Three of them were proposed by the DPR, namely I Dewa Kade Wiarsa Raka Sandi, Ratna Dewi Pettalolo, and Muhammad Tio Alansyah.

Heddy Lugito when confirmed regarding the agenda of the summons by Commission II of the DPR confirmed. "That's right," he said.

The Deputy Chairman of Commission II of the House of Representatives from the Golkar Party faction, Zulfikar Arse Sadikin, also confirmed the agenda of the hearing. He explained that the agenda of meetings such as commission hearings in the House of Representatives generally pertains to the performance of institutions, specifically in this case, the performance of the DKPP. The meeting, according to him, will be held behind closed doors. "This time it's closed, is it okay if it's closed?" he said without explaining the reason for the closed meeting.

Meanwhile, Deputy Chairman of Commission II of the House of Representatives from the Democratic Party faction, Dede Yusuf, stated that the meeting was held behind closed doors because it would not be appropriate if their reprimand to the DKPP leadership was seen by the public. "Yes, if we reprimand, we shouldn't, sometimes we might appear on YouTube looking like something, these are just ordinary reprimands, evaluations," he said.

He also did not deny the DKPP leadership evaluation meeting after the new DPR Tatib came into effect. However, according to him, the new article in the Tatib functions only to strengthen the DPR's supervisory function. "So, it's not like what people think, wow, there will be something, right, no, that's, checks and balances. So we carry out evaluation functions, checks and balances on public complaints," he added.

When asked about the next process after the evaluation, he said that Commission II of the DPR would follow the applicable laws and regulations.

Regarding the material highlighted by Commission II of the DPR while evaluating the leadership of the DKPP, according to Dede, it revolves around reports of complaints about violations of the election organizers' code of ethics during the 2024 General Election and the 2024 Regional Election processes that have been submitted to the DKPP, which have not yet been resolved.

"So, it's like why can't everything be resolved, right? If it has been a long time, it shouldn't be necessary anymore. There must be legal certainty about when these trials will end, well, until now there are still some from 2023 and onwards, let's just evaluate it," he added.

He ensured that there would be a warning from Commission II of the DPR on the DKPP regarding this matter. "Yes, there will definitely be, there will definitely be a warning," he added.

Kompas' monitoring shows that the meeting between Commission II of the DPR and the leadership of the DKPP is still ongoing, and is indeed being held behind closed doors.

As is known, the new DPR Tatib has drawn criticism from various academics and civil society groups.

One of them was conveyed by the Dean of the Faculty of Law, Brawijaya University, Malang, Aan Eko Widiarto. According to him, the DPR Tatib is a regulation that only applies to the internal DPR institution and binds DPR members. Someone who has been appointed as a state official, such as a Supreme Court judge, Constitutional Court judge, and KPK commissioner, cannot be bound by the existence, regulations, or norms contained in the DPR Tatib.

"If the DPR can reach them, this means that there has been intervention. It seems to me that the DPR has misunderstood its duties and functions in conducting a fit and proper test," said Aan.

The DPR's decision clearly contradicts the constitutional foundations stipulated in the 1945 Constitution. The DPR is actually seen as a superior institution or superbody. "Wow, this is a misconception that goes beyond what happened during the New Order era. This is, yes, really misguided and really unacceptable from a constitutional perspective," said Aan.

Head of the Department of Politics and Social Change at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) Arya Fernandes also saw that the new authority of the DPR in the new Tatib was clearly not in line with the presidential system that adheres to the separation of powers, especially in this case the separation of the executive and legislative. The legislature should only function as a supervisor, while the function of evaluation to dismissal lies with the executive.

The existence of new authority in the DPR's rules of procedure also creates confusion. Because, in the law that serves as the legal umbrella for the formation of every state institution whose leaders are chosen by the DPR, the requirements and mechanisms for dismissing the institution's leaders have been regulated.

In addition, he sees the new authority in the DPR's rules of procedure as potentially eliminating the independence of state institutions whose leaders are chosen by the DPR. This is because they will easily be recommended to be replaced if they are not running in line with the DPR's wishes.

On that basis, Arya sees the importance of President Prabowo stepping in and convincing the leaders of his political parties that control parliament to revise the DPR's rules of procedure. "If the President does not respond to this, the impact will be the loss of part of his authority in evaluating state institutions," he said when contacted from Jakarta, Friday (7/2/2025).

Lecturer in Election Law at the Faculty of Law, University of Indonesia, Titi Anggraini, also sees President Prabowo as an important coalition leader to urge the DPR to revoke its new authority, so that his government does not leave a bad legacy. When political parties make unconstitutional policies, it can be linked to Prabowo's government, especially since the leadership of the coalition parties is very dominant in the DPR.

Previously, Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives from the Gerindra Party Faction Sufmi Dasco Ahmad stated that the DPR's rules of procedure only apply internally and to encourage the DPR's supervisory performance. The DPR still does not have the authority to dismiss the leaders of other state institutions.

The evaluation by the DPR, Dasco continued, only produced recommendations, while the dismissal of the head of the institution still refers to the applicable laws and regulations. He also denied the circulating issue regarding the authority of the DPR to dismiss the heads of other state institutions.

"Actually there is no direction there (dismissal). Indeed, we are also a bit confused, why then the issue is directed there. In response to the criticisms that exist, we have explained, this revision only applies internally in order to encourage the supervisory function," he said.

"So, I have to fix it. Don't let there be a sentence that is out of place so that it creates a different connotation in society. This recommendation is not binding to the outside, and later the results may suggest to the government," he added.