Ad hoc tribunal for election offenders urged

Ad hoc tribunal for election offenders urged

Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The lack of legal action taken against election irregularities in
the past has sparked demands for an ad hoc tribunal to try those
violating the election law.

Syamsuddin Haris of the National Institute of Sciences (LIPI)
and General Elections Commission (KPU) deputy chairman Ramlan
Surbakti said that an ad hoc tribunal was required to enable law
enforcers to take action against political parties or individuals
who commit election-related crimes.

Speaking at a seminar here, the two political experts said
they had lost trust in the Supreme Court and the Attorney
General's Office, which were authorized to deal with election
violations.

"The present Indonesian legal system has failed to handle
various violations of the election law. An ad hoc tribunal would
assist judges in dealing with political issues," Syamsuddin said.

He said the government could recruit ad hoc judges from
political experts, who are familiar with election issues.

Ramlan, a professor of politics at Airlangga University,
criticized the election bill currently being deliberated at the
House of Representatives for failing to anticipate public
complaints, offer a mechanism to settle disputes between parties
and specify which institution has the authority to try violators
of the election law.

"The government just never learned from the 1999 polls, when
many parties were alleged to have been in violation of the
election law but no legal institute moved to punish them.

"If the country is serious about eliminating unfair practices,
the government should come up with a clear regulation on which
institution is authorized to try violators," Ramlan said.

The New Order's ruling Golkar Party was often accused of
manipulation and misusing state facilities and funds to win a
majority vote in each of the six general elections between 1971
and 1997.

The 1997 election was restaged in several regencies in East
Java, including in Sampang on Madura island, following the United
Development Party's disclosure of election fraud that benefited
Golkar. Nevertheless, the ruling party remained untouchable.

Last year, the Supreme Court ruled out the demand of a group
of parties that Golkar be dissolved or disqualified for allegedly
accepting donations that exceeded the maximum amount allowed per
donation according to Law No. 2/1999 on elections.

The court said the plaintiffs could not provide admissible
evidence of Golkar's alleged violations of the election law.

The law allows a political party to accept no more than Rp 15
million from individuals, and no more than Rp 150 million from
private companies, legal bodies or organizations.

Violations could lead to a party's disqualification,
suspension or dissolution, according to the 1999 election law.

Also speaking at the seminar was Gothom Arya, a former member
of the general election commission in Thailand, who said that the
commission in his country had the right to seize any relevant
documents or evidence from any person, summon any person to
testify and request the courts, state prosecutors and inquiry
officials to take action against election law offenders.

"Of course we served only to adjudicate election cases, but
not to try criminal cases, like to sentence somebody to jail, as
that authority is given to the Supreme Court," Arya told The
Jakarta Post.