Voter suppression is most clearly seen in the form of intimidation—both subtly and aggressively.
Intimidation can be defined as the use of influence to pressure someone to vote or not to vote. Intimidation can take many forms, both subtly and aggressively. Subtle forms of intimidation include gestures or words made before the vote, the use of party or candidate attributes at polling stations, or narratives that corner minorities. Meanwhile, aggressive forms of intimidation include physical threats as well as economic threats—such as the threat of losing their job, earning from shift work, or position.
Meanwhile, challenge to right to vote can be defined as an attempt to abuse one's authority to question a person's eligibility to be registered as a voter or cast a vote.
Intimidation and challenge to right to vote are closely related to the relationship of influence and power. Those with stronger influence and power intimidate vulnerable groups who have weaker influence and power or have no power at all.
There were three cases of intimidation and challenge to voting rights that emerged during the 2019 and 2020 elections
Intimidation with hate spin
In the Indonesian context, minority groups or vulnerable groups are subtly intimidated by being used as objects of hatred. Hate spin are insults and offence that are intentionally created and used as a political strategy that exploits group identity to mobilize supporters and suppress political opponents. This spin is perpetrated by political elites who manipulate society's deepest emotions using persuasion techniques—from ordinary rhetoric to the use of features in social media. These political elites include leaders of political organizations, religious leaders, and even government officials who benefit from disguising their pursuit of power under the guise of identity-based popular sentiment (George, 2017).
From a search of a fact-checking list on the website cekfakta.com—a collaborative project of MAFINDO (Indonesian Anti-Defamation Society) and several online media members who are members of AJI (Aliansi of Independent Journalists) and AMSI (Association of Indonesian Cyber Meda)-it can be stated that the content is distorted. more hatred based on religious sentiments than other sentiments (17 content). Content containing hate twists based on racial sentiment was found as many as 15 content; and based on sentiment towards lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender groups as much as 6 contents.
From a search of the fact-checking list on the website Cekfact.com—a collaborative project of MAFINDO (Indonesian Anti-Defamation Society) and several online media members of AJI (Aliansi of Independent Journalists) and AMSI (Association of Indonesian Cyber Media)- it can be stated that there are more hate-spinning content based on religious sentiments than other sentiments (17 content). Content containing hate spin based on racial sentiment was found as many as 15 content; and based on sentiment towards lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender groups as much as 6 contents.
The massive hate spin narrative and treatment that marginalize this vulnerable group has the potential to eliminate voting rights. For example, transgender groups admit that they are reluctant and do not want to vote because there are no candidates in the Pilkada who show partiality or protection for transgender people. The hatred of transgender people has actually become a political selling point for candidates to gain sympathy from voters who still think that LGBT is contrary to religious and moral values (Dominicha, 2021).
Challenge of voting rights people with mental disorders
The most common challenge to right to vote in the Indonesian general election are people with mental disorders (ODGJ) who are stigmatized as crazy people in the 2019 election. One of the most prominent is the shock of a Twitter account with more than 600,000 followers who attacked ODGJ's voting rights. On April 23, 2019, the campaigner for one of the candidate pairs tweeted,
“Katanya org gila nyoblos ada 13juta. Trus ada video nya? Ada catatannya? Ada formulir C1 nya? Masa gak ada yg rekam? Mana 13 juta itu?” [They say there are 13 million crazy people who voted. So, any video of it? Any notes? Is there a C1 form? Is there no recording? Where is the 13 million?”]
“Allah saja tak memberi kewajiban apa2 thd orang gila… anda malah waiibkan ikut nyoblos. Yg gila siapa ya? Mudah2an yg curang menjadi gila…” [Allah alone doesn't give any obligations to crazy people... you even oblige them to participate in voting. Who's crazy? I hope the cheaters go crazy…”]
The day after it aired, the tweet was retweeted 4,489 times and garnered more than 1,500 comments (Juliati, 2019). The tweet has now been deleted.
The right to vote for people with mental disorders has actually been guaranteed by the Constitutional Court. Constitutional Court Decision No. 135/PUU-XIII/2015 states that Article 57 paragraph (3) letter a of the Pilkada Law is contrary to the 1945 Constitution as long as the phrase “mentally/memory disturbed” is not interpreted as “experiencing permanent mental disorders and/or memory disorders which according to mental health professionals have eliminated a person's ability to vote in elections."
However, the political elite started the discourse by questioning the eligibility of people with mental disorders to vote. ODGJ is used as a political commodity that has an impact on stigma and bullying that is widespread in the public in the 2019 Election. In fact, in the 2014 Election, there was no negative response from the general public (Damayanti, 2021).
It didn't stop there, the hate spin towards ODGJ also affected election organizers who did not have a good enough understanding of the right to vote with mental disabilities. Disinformation accompanied by a hate spin makes the election organizers hesitate in registering the right to vote with mental disabilities. In Bekasi in the 2019 election, rehabilitation center residents who did not have an electronic ID card were not facilitated by the Regional KPU. In fact, the Regional KPU should have acted quickly to check with the Population and Civil Registry Office or Dukcapil and take care of the transfer letter for voters with mental disabilities with different domiciles. The quick action of election administrators can save the right to vote for people with mental disabilities who have limited mobility. Many mentally disabled voters are not allowed to leave the mental institution to apply for an identity card, let alone apply for a transfer letter as a condition for voting.
Intimidation of factory workers
In the 2020 Pilkada, cases of intimidation were found that removed the right to vote by using economic threats. This intimidation was carried out by mining companies to workers during the voting day for the North Halmahera Pilkada. This incident began with the absence of TPS facilities that could be reached by 632 workers and PT Nusa Halmahera Minerals (NHM) partners who were entitled to vote. PT NHM asked the North Halmahera KPU to establish TPS around the Gosowong mine site, as in previous elections, to anticipate the spread of Covid-19.
In response to the request, the North Halmahera KPU held a joint meeting with the North Halmahera Regency Bawaslu, the North Halmahera Regency Kesbangpol Agency, the Covid-19 Handling Task Force, PT NHM, and the Liaison Official from the candidate pairs on 7 December 2020. The decision of the meeting is contained in the Minutes Number 397/PL.02.1-BA/8203/KPU-Kab/XI/2020.
The next day, an evaluation meeting was held to prepare for the election. The meeting agreed that the request to establish a TPS within PT NHM could not be carried out because it was considered vulnerable and there was no legal basis for establishing a special TPS in the mining area.
PT Nusa Halmahera Minerals workers who are registered in the DPT during the Regent and Deputy Regent Election of North Halmahera Regency can still exercise their right to vote at the TPS where the workers are registered in the DPT. PT NHM is also required to dismiss all workers so that workers can vote at the TPS where the workers are registered. Voting day has been designated as a holiday based on Presidential Decree Number 22 of 2020 concerning Voting Day for the Election of the Governor and Deputy Governor, Regent and Deputy Regent, and Mayor and Deputy Mayor of 2020.
However, based on the narrative of Hanny Nina, a PT NHM worker who has worked for 27 years, PT NHM did not give its workers a day off. This resulted in as many as 105 workers who were entitled to vote were unable to cast their vote because they were still required to work in accordance with work rotations (shifts). Workers are also unable to leave the workplace temporarily because PT NHM requires the self-swipe test to enter and leave the workplace outside the specified time and wait about three days to get the results.
This is one of the arguments for the dispute over the results of the 2020 North Halmahera Pilkada submitted by Joel B. Wogono and Said Bajak—the pair of candidates for regent and deputy regent number two—to the Constitutional Court. Joel B. Wogono and Said Bajak got 50,078 votes. This gain was 619 votes (0.61 percent) from Frans Manery and Muchlis Tapi Tapi who received 50,697 votes.
The Constitutional Court in the decision No. 57/PHP.BUP-XIX/2021 193 assessed that companies that did not give some workers a day off on polling day and resulted in not being able to cast their ballots had injured workers' suffrage rights as citizens in giving their voting rights. One of the constitutional rights of citizens is the right to vote and this right is guaranteed by the constitution, laws, and international conventions. So that the limitation, deviation, elimination, and abolition of these rights constitute a violation of the human rights of citizens.
The Constitutional Court also considered KPU regulation No 8/2018 which stipulates that special polling stations can only be formed in hospitals and detention centers can be set aside due to the Covid-19 pandemic. To fulfill the suffrage rights of workers who have not yet cast their ballots and in order to protect the suffrage rights of citizens to vote in the 2020 North Halmahera Regent and Deputy Regent Elections, it is necessary to create a special TPS located within PT Nusa Halmahera Minerals. The establishment of the special TPS was carried out through coordination between the North Halmahera Regency KPU and PT Nusa Halmahera Minerals, including validating the employee data registered in the DPT.
MAHARDDHIKA & NURUL AMALIA SALABI
We map out the forms of voter suppression or interference with the right to vote in the Indonesian election. This article is the third in the series. Check out the articles in this series:
