Al-Zaytun bars election officials<\/p>\n
Yuli Tri Suwarni, The Jakarta Post, Bandung<\/p>\n
The West Java General Elections Commission (KPUD) may fail to
\nhold this month's presidential poll runoff at Al-Zaytun as the
\ncontroversial Islamic boarding school had refused officials
\npermission to reregister voters around the complex.<\/p>\n
KPUD member Radhar Tri Baskoro said on Tuesday that the
\nschool, which is located in Indramayu regency, had refused to
\nallow local poll officials to verify the number of voters by the
\ndeadline of Aug. 31, 2004.<\/p>\n
The election commission, meanwhile, said it was sticking with
\nits earlier data that the number of registered voters was only
\n11,565, he added.<\/p>\n
\"The Al-Zaytun administrators claim that the procedures used
\nin counting the number of voters for the first round of the
\npresidential election were already correct. Therefore, they have
\nrefused to allow us to verify the number of voters,\" Radhar told
\njournalists in Bandung, West Java.<\/p>\n
He said that Al-Zaytun director A.S. Panji Gumilang insisted
\non asking the Indramayu poll commission to prepare polling
\nstations and ballot papers according to the number of people who
\nwere recorded as casting votes at the school during the July 5
\npresidential election.<\/p>\n
A total of 24,818 people were recorded as casting their
\nballots at the school, where 83 polling stations had been set up,
\nduring the first round of the election. However, the number of
\nregistered voters there was only slightly more than 11,000.<\/p>\n
Almost all the 24,818 voters cast their ballots for
\npresidential candidate Gen. (ret) Wiranto, who failed to qualify
\nfor the Sept. 20, 2004, election runoff.<\/p>\n
The high turnout sparked accusations that military officers
\nhad transported the additional voters to Al-Zaytun to support
\nWiranto, a former chief security minister who came third in the
\nJuly 5 election.<\/p>\n
The central General Elections Commission (KPU) later annulled
\nthe results of the first round of the presidential election at
\nAl-Zaytun, and held a revote there on July 25.<\/p>\n
The revote turned out to be a farce as none of the Al-Zaytun
\nvoters showed up to cast their ballots at the 39 polling stations
\nestablished outside the school complex at Mekarjaya village,
\nGantar district.<\/p>\n
The failure was blamed by election supervisory committee
\nofficials on Al-Zaytun leaders, who rejected the revote and
\nallegedly prevented voters there from casting their ballotsright.<\/p>\n
Radhar said that despite a possible boycott by the
\ncontroversial school, the KPUD would set up 39 polling stations
\noutside the complex in order to allow eligible voters to cast
\ntheir ballots in the election runoff.<\/p>\n
\"We will give the 11,565 registered voters the chance to
\nvote,\" he said.<\/p>\n
He said that his office had asked the Indramayu Police to
\nprovide security during the Sept. 20 runoff at Al-Zaytun.<\/p>\n
The immensely wealthy school sparked public controversy
\npreviously after some number parents alleged that it taught their
\nchildren a \"deviant\" form of Islam. The school flatly denied the
\nallegations.<\/p>\n
Established in 1996, mystery still surrounds the source of the
\nschool's huge wealths, with accusations rife that Panji Gumilang
\nis a former activist with the now-defunct Indonesian Islamic
\nState (NII) movement. Panji denies the allegations.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/al-zaytun-bars-election-officials-1447893297",
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