Illustration of Noken system in Papua’s election – Jubi
Jayapura, Jubi – The Constitutional Court (MK) has acknowledged and endorsed the Noken System in the elections in accordance with the Decree of the Constitutional Court Number: 47-48 / PHPU.A-VI / 2009 and the article 18B paragraph (2) of the 1945 Constitution.
However, this system is still considered to cause some conflicts among local communities because it forces many candidates to think and work hard to get sympathy from people living in such areas applied to this system.
Although the Papua General Election Commission (KPU) has issued the technical guidelines in 2013 regulating the use of noken instead of the ballot box in the election, Metusalak Ifandi, the Chairman of Papua Election Supervisory Body (Bawaslu), admits the noken system is still a potential source of conflicts in the local election in Papua.
“The implementation in the field is totally different from the technical guidelines. This should be addressed by KPU. Of course, there needs a coordination between KPU and Bawaslu regarding the technical implementation including the regulations because we only refer to their guidelines,” he answered Jubi on Tuesday (9/18/2018) in Jayapura.
Multi-interpretation and the need of review
The noken system is considered valid if the noken is hung on the wood located in the polling station. Voters must come to the location and should not be represented by others to put the ballot into the noken. After the voting, the ballots must be counted on location but still need to be punched (to authorize), not like the voting process in other regions where the noken system is not applied, voters punched the ballot at the same time they put it into the ballot box. That’s why, according to Papua Bawaslu, the noken system often leads to misinterpretation.
“According to the Constitutional Court, the use of the noken system to substitute the ballot box is to respect the tradition of the local community,” said Metusalak.
Meanwhile, Theodorus Kossay, the Chairman of KPU Papua, said KPU Papua considers three aspects towards the application of the noken system, namely reviewing this system with academics, establishing the standard operating procedures and stimulating the use of this system.
“These three aspects were carried out to give weight to the implementation of the noken system and provide education to the people living in 14 districts that use the noken system,” he said. (*)
Reporter: Roy Ratumakin
Editor : Pipiet Maizier
