Denny Indrayana’s Bluff Aims Two Birds with One Stone

Coordinating Minister of Politics, Legal and Security Mahfud MD has ordered the police to question Denny Indrayana, former deputy legal and human rights minister under Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's regime, over the latter statement that the Constitutional Court would replace the current open-list proportional system with the closed-list proportional system, which would allow the people to cast their vote on the political parties alone, without casting their ballots to the legislative candidate figure.

Annoyed, Mahfud, who used to be the constitutional court's chief justice, considered Denny's statement absurd as the court was still in the middle of the hearing session over the matter. Mahfud said the hearing had not reached any conclusion, and therefore no ruling has been made. The former PKB politician also asked the court to conduct an internal investigation to seek whether there was an insider who leaked from inside the court.

Constitutional Court Spokesman Fajar Laksono denied that the panel had issued a ruling on this matter. He said the panel would hear considerations from experts on May 31, followed by an internal meeting before the panel issued the ruling.

Commenting on this, National Police Chief Gen. Listyo Sigit said the police were ready to follow up on Mahfud MD's suggestion to question Denny. The case stemmed from Denny Indrayana's statement on his social media account that someone with integrity had informed him that the Constitutional Court would order the closed-list proportional system to replace the existing open-list proportional one.

Furthermore, he went on, the panel of justice was divided on this issue, where six of them supported the ruling while the other three rejected the close-list system. The ruling, Denny added, would likely stir public confusion and significantly change the upcoming 2024 General Elections setting, thus creating internal havoc within political parties.