Yogyakarta, February 13th 2024─The movie “Dirty Vote”, which was released a few days before the 2024 general elections, is now being discussed by the public. The film by journalist and critic Dandhy Dwi Laksono reveals various forms of fraud throughout the election by collaborating with three state law experts. Faculty of Social and Political Sciences of UGM invited the film’s source person, Dr. Zainal Arifin Mochtar, S.H., LL.M. to discuss the meaning of the film on Tuesday (13/2).
“A little story about the making of this movie. Initially, we did research on election fraud. Then Mas Dandhy came and was interested in making a movie about this. We had a long discussion, reviewing this research in detail and how to present it,” Zainal explained. The process of reviewing the research took longer than the production of the movie. This is done not only as a form of caution, but also to ensure that the information obtained by the audience is valid.
Since its release on February 11th, 2024, this 1 hour and 57 minute film has received a lot of response from the public. The real evidence of election fraud, the non-neutrality of ASN and the government, and the abuse of the constitution are explained in detail and informatively. Some said this movie presented criticism well ahead of the election, but not a few were blasphemous and gave accusations. Zainal admitted that he was sure that Dandhy’s team of producers understood the consequences of releasing this film. This is not the first time a documentary has been released before an election. Previously, there was also the movie “Sexy Killer” during the 2019 elections.
“We see that throughout the history of this election there is nothing new. Cheating is systematic, it keeps repeating itself. So, we are just sewing it back. And this is purely an initiation from producer friends without any support from any candidate pair. It’s very difficult to face these accusations, even now the financial statements have not been paid off. If there is a candidate’s interest, it is impossible,” Zainal explained when responding to some of the accusations made against this film.
The discussion of “Dirty Vote” was also attended by student groups, one of which was Nugroho Prasetya Aditama, as Chairman of the Student Executive Board (BEM) KM UGM. “I think this movie is very brave, very straightforward. A movie that educates and flinches, flinching us students. The student movement became quite flustered when I saw it, I tried to reflect back. How far have students actually guarded the implementation of this election,” said Nugroho.
Wawan Mas’udi, S.IP., MPA, Ph.D., Dean of Faculty of Social and Political Sciences of UGM expressed his appreciation for the movie “Dirty Vote”. According to him, election fraud is not a new thing in the journey of Indonesian democracy. Every five years, studies on elections continue to criticize the existence of fraud and interests outside the people. Of course, regulations are always improving to organize better elections. “I think election fraud is not new. There must be one in every election, and it must be evaluated. But unfortunately, our society easily forgets history. So, movies like this are needed to make us remember and continue to evaluate for the future,” he said.
Wawan added that the substance of this movie is also very critical and has a good depiction of Indonesia’s current democracy. People can look deeper and get another point of view besides just voting. “The most dangerous corruption is not money, but corruption in the system. It will be more difficult to eradicate, or even just detect. For this reason, I hope that we are all committed to realizing safe and democratic elections,” he said.