KPU blocks local Panwaslu access to information: Official<\/p>\n
Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Forty percent of 416 regency offices of the Elections Supervisory
\nCommittee (Panwaslu) have had difficulty obtaining the necessary
\ninformation from the General Elections Commission (KPU),
\naffecting their efforts to detect any violations of the election
\nprocess.<\/p>\n
Panwaslu member Topo Santoso said on Monday that election
\nsupervisors in the provinces of Central Java, Bangka and
\nBelitung, as well as those in a number of provinces in Sumatra
\nhad reported the lack of access to the information.<\/p>\n
\"If we have no access ... our supervision will be weak and
\ndepend solely on public reports,\" he told a press conference.<\/p>\n
The complaints were raised during the recent plenary meeting
\nbetween Panwaslu officials across the country, Topo said.<\/p>\n
He urged the KPU to immediately increase access, particularly
\nbecause the factual verification of political parties started
\nlast week.<\/p>\n
The chairman of Central Java's Panwaslu office, Nur Hidayat
\nSardini, said the difficulties were experienced by most of the
\nelection supervisory committees in regencies and mayoralties
\nunder his auspices.<\/p>\n
\"There is visible fear among local KPU that election
\nsupervisors will taint the legitimacy of the results of its
\nverification job,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Just to mention one example, he said the chairman of
\nPanwaslu's Banyumas office was denied a meeting with local KPU
\nmembers to discuss the planned field verification of electoral
\ncandidates on Oct. 20.<\/p>\n
Nur Hidayat also said that KPU officials in Klaten refused to
\nfollow up the local Panwaslu's findings on alleged violations
\ncommitted by regional representative candidates during screening.<\/p>\n
KPU deputy chairman Ramlan Surbakti said the commission had no
\nintention to block Panwaslu's access to information.<\/p>\n
\"It depends on the types of information required by local
\nPanwaslu. If it is related to possible crimes committed by
\nelectoral candidates, then we will definitely provide the
\ninformation about the candidates.<\/p>\n
\"But when it comes to all documents related to electoral
\ncandidates, we do not have enough funds to copy the documents,\"
\nRamlan said.<\/p>\n
He promised to look into the complaints filed by Panwaslu to
\nseek the best solutions to the problems.<\/p>\n
The KPU has been verifying regional representative candidates
\nand political parties registered for the general election, which
\nwill end on Nov. 30 and Nov. 20 respectively.<\/p>\n
On Dec. 2 the KPU will announce which parties qualify for the
\ngeneral election, followed by the announcement of definite
\nregional representative candidates on Dec. 9.<\/p>\n
Indonesia will elect legislative members on April 5, 2004 and
\nthe president on July 5, with the possible run-off on Sept. 20.<\/p>\n
Topo insisted Panwaslu would go ahead with its plan to file
\nreports with police over any alleged crimes committed by
\nelectoral candidates.<\/p>\n
\"We will leave the cases to the law enforcers to follow up.
\nLet the people judge the work of the law enforcers,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Nur Hidayat said Panwaslu in Central Java had so far filed
\nthree reports against regional representative candidates with
\nlocal police over alleged money politics and duplication of
\nidentity cards without the consent of the owners, specifically in
\nSemarang, Rembang and Klaten.<\/p>\n
Later in the day, KPU chairman Nazaruddin Sjamsuddin revealed
\nthat the House of Representatives budget committee had
\nrecommended that the government cut KPU budget by Rp 900 billion
\nto Rp 3 trillion.<\/p>\n
Nazaruddin said if the government heeded the House's advice,
\nthe KPU would cancel its plan to raise honorarium of the
\nelections officials at village level and would reduce the fund
\nspent on dissemination of election-related information to the
\npublic.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/kpu-blocks-local-panwaslu-access-to-information-official-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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