Commission members reveal huge flaws in election bill<\/p>\n
Moch. N. Kurniawan and Yogita Tahilramani, The Jakarta Post,
\nJakarta<\/p>\n
Though hailed as democratic, Indonesia's 1999 elections could
\nhardly be called credible with a dismal record of 2,400 election
\ncampaign violations, including bribery, vote-rigging and
\nextortion among its other vices.<\/p>\n
Can the current election bill be counted upon to guarantee a
\ndemocratic election in the 2004 polls?<\/p>\n
According to members of the General Elections Commission
\n(KPU), an independent body entrusted with the task of organizing
\nthe polls, it is highly unlikely that the 2004 polls will be
\nadministered credibly, if serious flaws in certain articles of
\nthe election bill are not corrected.<\/p>\n
Prof. Ramlan Surbakti of Surabaya-based Airlangga University
\nsaid on Wednesday that among its major flaws, the bill limited
\nthe powers of KPU to effectively deal with violations committed
\nduring elections and election campaign.<\/p>\n
Article 125 of the election bill states that KPU monitors the
\nelections, records election violations, investigates them,
\nprepares dossiers of investigations and hands over the dossiers to
\neither the police or local prosecutors.<\/p>\n
\"The cases will be then handled by the Indonesian courts. Out
\nof the 2,400 violations recorded in the 1999 polls, only four
\nwere settled by our courts. They are just too burdened with day-
\nto-day criminal cases,\" Ramlan, who is a KPU member, told The
\nJakarta Post.<\/p>\n
He suggested that ad-hoc tribunals instead be established by
\nlocal courts, for the purpose of handling violations committed
\nbefore and during the elections.<\/p>\n
\"We hope the Article is revised, so that KPU is authorized to
\nsupervise the prosecution or police investigations into the
\ncriminal violation cases, which should then be tried by ad-hoc
\ntribunals,\" Ramlan said, adding that ad-hoc tribunals were
\nrequired by law to issue a ruling on cases within a set period of
\ntime, like within 30 days.<\/p>\n
Ramlan said that KPU should control investigations in
\n\"noncriminal\" cases also such as incidents of public officials
\ncampaigning during elections or the use of public facilities by
\npolitical parties for election work.<\/p>\n
\"A paragraph in the Article should stipulate that aside from
\ninvestigating noncriminal cases, to save time, KPU should be
\nempowered to enforce sanctions against the guilty party.
\nSanctions must already be regulated in the Election Law,\" Ramlan
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Another KPU member Chusnul Mar'iyah also slammed the
\ngovernment for literally robbing KPU of its independence, by
\nplacing the KPU secretary-general and vice secretary-general
\nunder the Ministry of Home Affairs in the KPU organizational
\nstructure.<\/p>\n
This is stipulated in Article 67 of the election bill.<\/p>\n
Chusnul said that the secretary-general administered the
\npolls.<\/p>\n
\"It is the staff of the secretary-general that holds the
\nelection results. They are the ones registering the voters, and
\ncounting the votes, and not the total 11 members of KPU,\" she
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
\"There will always be fear that the Ministry of Home Affairs
\ncould order the secretary-general to favor a particular political
\nparty, and we wouldn't even know about it.\"<\/p>\n
The secretary-general and vice secretary-general are appointed
\nand dismissed by the President upon the recommendation of the
\nminister of home affairs, according to Paragraph 4 of Article 67
\nin the bill. \"The secretary-general's promotions, salary and
\ntransfer of duty is arranged and executed by the Ministry of Home
\nAffairs. If the body that administers the polls is not
\nindependent, how can the poll results be trusted by the public?\"
\nshe said.<\/p>\n
Chusnul said that another \"ludicrous\" issue was that KPU funds
\nwould be regulated by the secretary-general, as stipulated in
\nArticle 74 of the bill, but KPU members would be held accountable
\nfor the funds.<\/p>\n
\"How can we, the 11 members of KPU, be held accountable for
\nsomething like the corruption of election funds allocated for
\npolitical party' flags for instance, in the 1999 polls, when we
\nwere never in charge of the funds?\"<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/commission-members-reveal-huge-flaws-in-election-bill-1447893297",
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