The General Election Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) of the Republic of Indonesia emphasizes the urgency of aligning electoral rules to be more adaptive to rapid technological advancements and digitalization. Bawaslu RI member, Puadi, stated that the complexity of current electoral stages demands regulatory designs capable of anticipating the dynamics of violations, including increasingly sophisticated administrative violations.
In a strategic discussion with Commission II of the House of Representatives (DPR RI), academics, and election activists, Bawaslu underlined the importance of institutional strengthening. This step aims not only to expand authority but rather to maintain the institution's independence, impartiality, and objectivity to enhance the quality of democracy and public trust in election outcomes.
Puadi highlighted that the presence of artificial intelligence (AI) has significantly altered the patterns of electoral violations. Money politics practices have now expanded to electronic transactions, while disinformation and digital campaigns pose new challenges that require updates to the election criminal procedure law to ensure law enforcement remains effective.
To respond to these challenges, Bawaslu is prioritizing five crucial issues in the reform of election criminal law, including the strengthening of the Integrated Law Enforcement Center (Sentra Gakkumdu), the implementation of restorative justice, and evidentiary challenges in the digital realm. Furthermore, harmonization is required between the Election Law and the Criminal Code (KUHP) and the Criminal Procedure Code (KUHAP) to establish solid legal certainty for all parties.
Bawaslu emphasized that strengthening human resource capacity and institutional professionalism is the primary key. According to Puadi, increasingly better and more accountable management mechanisms will serve as a strong foundation for creating a highly integrated democratic process in the future.
