Bribery cases divulged in the run up to 2004 poll

Oyos Saroso H.N., The Jakarta Post, Bandar Lampung

A number of political party representatives as well as election commission members have revealed the acceptance of bribes by the regional and municipal election commissions.

However, the party representatives said they had not reported the requests for money, possibly amounting to some tens of millions of rupiah, to the regional election supervisory committee (Panwas) due to fears that their parties would be excluded from the election.

Of the 39 parties that registered to contest next year's election, nine failed to pass the verification process. One of the main reasons given was that they did not have a representative office in the particular region that they were applying for.

M. Iqbal, a treasurer for the Lampung chapter of the National Concern Party (PKPB) said on Friday that his party had to pay Rp 10 million to the provincial election commission (KPU) to pass the verification.

"But if we reported this to Panwas, we would not be able to provide concrete evidence because the KPU people refused to give receipts," Iqbal said. "Some parties give the money voluntarily to KPU members so they can pass," he added. His party was among those which passed verification.

A member of the municipal KPU, Ridwan Saifuddin, said, "Representatives from seven parties approached me about getting their parties passed through the verification stage. All promised money and other benefits. I refused, but some of my colleagues (KPU members) took bribes."

He added that the "lobbying" were usually done before the breaking of the fast during the recently ended Ramadhan, because that was considered a time when people might be open to negotiations.

Other forms of corruption have also been reported in the process of verifying individual candidates for the regional representative council (DPD). At least one prospective candidate said that the corruption occurred on each level starting with the district election committee (PPK). The source, requesting anonymity, said DPD members would pressure candidates into paying bribes, especially those whose documents were deemed to be incomplete, or those with supporter identity cards that had expired.

"Many villagers don't have proper ID or their ID cards have expired. If this is discovered, the support for them will be revoked," the source said. "At this stage the PPK member will offer his 'service' in return for money, so that the candidate can pass the verification despite his incomplete or expired documents."

Another DPD candidate, Ahmad Yulden Erwin, acknowledged that PPK and KPU members at the regency level, said that out of 3,500 copies of IDs of his supporters -- one of the requirements -- about 100 were likely invalid.

However, he was told that more than 1,000 were invalid. "Then a number of PPK and KPU members offered their 'services' to me," Erwin said.

A member of the provincial Lampung KPU, Edwin Hanibal, denied that anyone his division in charge of verifying political parties had received any money.

"Anyone with witnesses and evidence can report it, and we will certainly follow up on the report," Edwin said.

A number of political party executives had approached KPU members to get their parties verified, "But we declined to respond," Edwin said, apparently referring to those wanting a shortcut instead of compiling the necessary documents.

Deputy chairman of the provincial election supervision body, Firman Seponada, said there had been a number of suspected cases of bribes involving KPU members. "However, no evidence had been given to us," he said, adding that their investigations would continue nonetheless.

"We'll take firm measures against any KPU or PPK member proved to be involved in bribes; this is a serious matter which must be immediately cleared up by the KPU," Firman said.

If the allegations are true, "KPU would become the biggest contributor to the failure of the elections," he added.

The nine political parties which failed to contest the elections next year in Lampung include the Indonesian Workers' Congress Pary (PKPI), the Party of the Indonesian Motherland (PITA), the Krisna Dei Party (Partai Krisna Dei), and the Indonesian Unity in Diversity Party (PBI). Others are the Party of the Unitary Indonesian Republic (PKRI), the Reform Party (Partai Reformasi), the Marhaen National Party (PNMJ), the Mutual Help Party (Partai Gotong Royong) and the Freedom Party (Partai Merdeka).