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.