Chusnul to report media to police for defamation

Chusnul to report media to police for defamation

Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A member of the General Elections Commission (KPU), Chusnul
Mar'iyah, is planning to report several media organizations to
police for allegedly defaming her in their reports.

Chusnul's lawyer Made Rahman Marasabessy said on Tuesday that
he and his client would soon make complaints about several media
organizations to the police for reporting that Chusnul had bought
a house using KPU's so-called tactical funds.

"We will report several media organizations to police for
defamation. Several media organizations also reported that she
received money from KPU partners," he said.

Made, however, didn't specify exactly which media
organizations his client would be reporting to police.

Made had said that they would be filing the report on Tuesday,
but as of late last night, Chusnul or her lawyers had not filed
any complaints with city police.

"No, we haven't received any complaint from Chusnul. Usually,
people file a report in the afternoon, not in the evening. They
will probably submit it tomorrow," Sergeant Wawan told The
Jakarta Post.

KPU has come under the spotlight following the arrest of one
of its members, Mulyana W. Kusuma, by the Corruption Eradication
Commission (KPK) for allegedly trying to bribe a Supreme Audit
Agency (BPK) officer last May.

BPK, which carried out an investigative audit on the KPU, had
suggested that hundreds of billions of rupiah of public funds
were unaccounted for in the elections commission.

The KPK, which is investigating corruption in the election
body, has also declared KPU chairman Nazaruddin Syamsudin and
several KPU Secretariat staff members as suspects in the case.

Chusnul, who was in charge of ballot box procurement in the
2004 legislative and presidential elections, has been questioned
twice as a witness in Nazaruddin's case.

She has denied any wrongdoing in the ballot box procurement
tenders last year.

However, several print and electronic media organizations have
reported that Chusnul's house in Depok, West Java was purchased
using money embezzled from the KPU.

Chusnul has denied suggestions that she had used KPU funds to
purchase the house and has slammed media reports as trial by the
media leading to character assassination on herself and the KPU.

"Chusnul has never received money from KPU's financial head
Hamdani Amin. She has been offered (money) once, but she rejected
it," Made said without elaborating.

Chusnul was once named a suspect by the Jakarta police in a
slander complaint filed by telecommunications expert Roy Suryo
late last year.

Roy reported Chusnul to police after she allegedly accused him
of selling ballot data to the campaign team of then presidential
candidate Wiranto during a seminar in July last year.

Police dropped the case after Roy and Chusnul agreed to settle
the matter out of court.