Cirebon mayor faces poll bias trial

Cirebon mayor faces poll bias trial

Nana Rukmana, The Jakarta Post, Cirebon

Prosecutors pledged on Monday to complete the case file of the
mayor of the West Java city of Cirebon, Subardi, in two weeks. He
has been charged with illegally campaigning for the incumbent,
President Megawati Soekarnoputri ahead of the Sept. 20 election
runoff.

"We are striving to complete investigating the file on Subardi
in less than 14 days. After which, we will take the case to
court," said Herdinan Soekarsa, head of the general crimes
division of the Cirebon Prosecutor's Office.

He confirmed his office had received the police's dossier on
Friday.

Herdinan said the mayor would not be detained for the time
being, as he has been charged with an offense that carries a
maximum penalty of six months in prison. Under existing laws, a
suspect can only be detained if the crime they are charged with
is punishable with a sentence of at least five years in prison.

Cirebon Police chief of detectives Adj. Comr. Eka Mulyana said
there was sufficient evidence the mayor had violated Election Law
No. 23/2003, which bans state officials from publicly supporting
a candidate's election bid.

Evidence against Subardi includes a video compact disc (VCD),
which shows him participating in an event on Sept. 16 to declare
support for the reelection bid of Megawati, and her running mate
Hasyim Muzadi.

Further evidence is a T-shirt bearing a picture of Megawati
and Hasyim, which the mayor wore during the event in which he
allegedly called on people to vote for the incumbent President.

The poll partiality case was reported by the Cirebon Election
Supervisory Committee (Panwaslu), which accused the mayor of
illegally campaigning for the Megawati-Hasyim ticket.

Local administration secretary Ano Sutrisno admitted that
Subardi did not have permission from the city's General Elections
Commission (KPUD) to campaign, nor had he taken leave from his
official duties to do so, according to Cirebon Police chief Adj.
Sr. Comr. Siswandi.

The mayor was declared a suspect in the case after being
questioned for more than six hours last Wednesday at the local
police office.

Earlier, Central Java's Banyumas Police chief Sr. Comr. Andi
Mapparesa was fired by National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar
for campaigning for Megawati and Hasyim ahead of the first round
of the election on July 5.

Andi was found guilty by a police disciplinary committee of
breaching his force's code of ethics for siding with a certain
candidate.

Meanwhile, Banyumas' Panwaslu accused Andi of violating the
Constitution as he had failed to uphold the police's impartiality
in the election.