Commission investigates alleged election violations at Al-Zaytun
Commission investigates alleged election violations at Al-Zaytun
The Jakarta Post, Bandung/Indramayu/Jakarta
The West Java General Elections Commission (KPUD) established on
Thursday a fact-finding team to investigate alleged election
violations at the massive Al-Zaytun Islamic school complex, where
tens of thousands of people from Jakarta were bused in to cast
their votes.
The team was assigned to carry out their task within three
days to collect data on alleged mobilization of thousands of
people, all of whom voted for the Wiranto-Salahuddin pairing,
which grabbed all 24,794 votes cast in the 83 polling stations
inside the school complex.
Aside from the Wiranto-Salahuddin pair, the other candidates
on Monday were Megawati Soekarnoputri and Hasyim Muzadi, Amien
Rais and Siswono Yudohusodo, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Jusuf
Kalla, and Hamzah Haz and running mate Agum Gumelar.
There were only 11,000 voters in the complex during the April
5 legislative elections.
According to KPUD member Ferry Kurnia Rizkiansyah, the team
was still awaiting for a recommendation from the West Java
Election Supervisory Commission (Panwaslu) to decide whether or
not the votes should be declared invalid.
"We (members of the team) will check out whether the voters
were registered to vote with the local polling station committee
(PPS) in Mekarjaya subdistrict, Indramayu regency -- where the
Islamic school complex is located.
"That is why we need to investigate the irregularities so that
we can explain it to Panwaslu. But we must emphasize that we will
not enter the political area during the investigation because it
is not our authority," Ferry said in a press conference at KPUD
office on Jl. Garut, Bandung.
A parallel investigation would also be carried out by the
National Police, who formed a special team on Thursday.
"It is possible that they all had legitimate voter's cards but
why did they decide to vote at the Al-Zaytun complex? Perhaps
they falsified the cards. We are now asking the KPU and Panwaslu
for clarification," said the National Police chief of detectives
Comr. Gen. Suyitno Landung Sudjono.
"If Panwaslu decides the incident was a criminal act, we (the
police) will investigate the case further," he added.
The possibility of scandal came to light after Panwaslu
disclosed that those who cast their votes at the Al-Zaytun were
transported by dozens of buses from Jakarta, including at least
21 military vehicles.
The buses picked up passengers from three locations, Lebak
Bulus, Pondok Pinang and Kalibata -- all in South Jakarta, and
dropped them off at Al-Zaytun. None of the buses stayed over
night, but the drivers returned to the Islamic school complex
later on July 5.
The Indonesian Military (TNI) headquarters has discharged a
lieutenant colonel, allegedly responsible for authorizing the use
of the vehicles, while 20 civil servants at the TNI headquarters
were given administrative sanctions.
Separately, a researcher at the Islamic Research Institute
(LPPI) Sukanto claimed that the people involved in the scam were
members of the outlawed Indonesian Islamic State (NII) movement.
Sukanto, a former NII executive himself, said Al-Zaytun had a
strong relationship with Siti "Tutut" Hardiyanto Rukmana, the
eldest daughter of former president Soeharto.
"In the April 5 legislative election, all Al-Zaytun members
were asked to vote for Tutut's Concern for the Nation Functional
Party (PKPB), while in the recent presidential election, they had
been asked to vote for Wiranto," Sukanto told the press on
Thursday.