Bribery, blackmail attempts irk KPU: Members

Bribery, blackmail attempts irk KPU: Members

Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Bribery and blackmailing attempts have started to daunt members
of the General Elections Commission (KPU) as supply procurement
tenders worth millions of U.S. dollars for next year's general
elections are being processed by the commission.

KPU member Anas Urbaningrum revealed on Tuesday that an
unidentified person recently phoned him to deliver money as part
of efforts to win the voter registration paper tender.

Anas, along with Hamid Awaluddin, is in charge of that tender.

"The person said he would send someone to me with something in
a sealed envelope to help secure the tender," said Anas, adding
that the person's phone number was withheld when he received a
call on his cellular phone.

Anas said he refused the bribe and called on the person to
donate the funds to people in Aceh and other people facing
hardships.

Another KPU member, Mulyana W. Kusumah, said bribery and
blackmailing attempts were likely to become widespread as the KPU
would carry out several goods procurement tenders in the next
couple of months, worth over Rp 1 trillion (US$115 million).

"As a country that is still suffering from economic
difficulty, such a huge amount of money available via the KPU
will trigger high-level business intrigue ...," he said.

Separately, KPU member Hamid Awaluddin emphasized that the KPU
did not have a policy of asking for money from firms that
participated in its tenders.

According to him, that was essential, as a number of parties
had misused the name of KPU to collect funds and blackmail firms
taking part in KPU tenders with a promise of winning the tenders.

KPU has been carrying out tenders to provide Information
Technology infrastructure, ballot boxes and voter registration
papers. It will also put the preparation of ballot papers to
tender.

Meanwhile, Chusnul Mar'iyah declared on Tuesday a consortium
led by PT Integrasi Technology the winner for the time being of
the tender to provide IT infrastructure.

A consortium under PT Berca Hardaya Parkasa, and PT Asaba
Computer Center, were identified as reserve winners, as KPU would
allocate five days for any party to file objections to KPU's
decision.

If there are no complaints within five days, PT Integrasi will
be declared the definitive winner of the KPU IT tender.

PT Integrasi quoted Rp 152.72 billion to provide IT
infrastructure for next year's elections. PT Berca offered Rp
155.54 billion and PT Asaba bid Rp 164.25 billion.

The technical specifications of the three bidders were quite
similar.

Alluding to administrative verification for political parties,
Mulyana said the Indonesian Catholic Democracy Party (PKDI)
managed on Tuesday to pass KPU's administrative screening.

Therefore, of 50 parties registering with KPU, eight have
passed the administrative screening and six have qualified for
next year's election as they met the 1999 election's electoral
threshold.