AWK Sanctioned Permanent Dismissal of BK DPD, This is the Bali KPU’s Response

DENPASAR, BALIPOST.com – The DPD RI Honorary Board (BK) sanctioned the dismissal of Arya Wedakarna (AWK) in the Bali Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) reporting case on Friday (2/2).

Regarding this decision, the Bali KPU also provided a response.

Quoted from the Antara News Agency, Chairman of the Bali KPU I Dewa Agung Gede Lidartawan, said that in the 2024 Election, where the voting process will take place in 12 days, AWK is registered as one of the candidates.

He said that until now he had not seen the decision letter from the DPD RI, all the information was still based on the decision video so it needed to be read and studied.

“Be patient and see the verdict first. “The original decision was not a video,” he said.

So far, according to the Bali KPU, if Arya Wedakarna’s dismissal is related to the DPD RI code of ethics, it is not a criminal element, then it should not affect his position as a DPD RI candidate for the 2024 Election.

“Yes, of course if it’s just ethics not to invalidate the nomination requirements, that’s why I have to review the decision first,” said Lidartawan.

“Those who abort are election crimes or crimes that carry a sentence of more than 5 years, and the person concerned can take legal action. “So it won’t be changed immediately, look at the nomination requirements, if something is violated, then you can be removed from the nomination,” he continued.

Confirmed separately, the Head of the DPD RI Bali Office, Putu Rio, said that until now the secretariat had not received a decision letter to dismiss AWK, so his status was still considered a member.

Rio said that this was the first time that a member of the DPD RI had been dismissed, so he had not looked further into the provisions if the senator was in the process of nominating for election at the same institution.

“I don’t understand that. However, if you are dismissed from the DPD, it doesn’t seem to have any influence on candidacy, ed. “As far as I know, if there isn’t, for example, if he’s involved in a criminal case, it doesn’t seem to be a problem, there’s no problem with his candidacy,” said Rio.

It is known that this morning the BK DPD RI announced its decision based on complaints from residents of Bugbug, Karangasem, who suspected AWK of provoking the community in the resort burning case, as well as a report from the Bali MUI which assessed that Arya was spreading hate speech containing SARA.

Deputy Chairman of the BK DPD RI Made Mangku Pastika said that based on article 48 paragraph 1 and paragraph 2 of DPD RI Regulation Number 1 of 2021, the DPD RI Honorary Board has decided and determined that the defendant Dr. Shri IGN Arya Wedakarna MWS III, SE, (M.Tru), M.Si., a member of the DPD RI from Bali Province was proven to have violated his oath or promise of office and the code of ethics and/or regulations of the DPD RI.

“As regulated in the MD3 Law, there is a serious sanction of permanent dismissal as a member of the DPD RI. “This decision was then stated in the decision of the DPD RI Honorary Board,” he said.

Meanwhile, when confirmed, Arya Wedakarna only said that he was not embarrassed by this dismissal, but was reluctant to respond further.

“The point is that I am not ashamed of being fired from the DPD RI because of the MUI report, I defended the Balinese Hindu religion,” he said via short message. (kmb/balipost)