Committee chair asked for 'compensation'

JAKARTA (JP): The Jakarta Provincial Elections Committee (PPD I) secretariat has been asked to provide Rp 80 million (US$11,940) to committee members and 48 political party representatives, an executive said.

Committee chairman Djafar Badjeber said on Tuesday that the money, requested by him and deputy chairman Harun Al Rasyid, was to compensate for the hard work put in by PPD I members and 48 party representatives to reexamine documents supplied by the 76 city councilor candidates.

The reexamination is supposed to establish, among other things, that the capital's next councilors are Jakarta residents and are well-educated.

"The request was made to the secretariat's head Dody Sudarno. After all, I am the head of PPD I and I have to take care of my members. I have to be arif (kind-hearted)," Djafar said.

"Even if the secretariat decides to give half, that's fine."

Data from the PPD I office at the Central Jakarta mayoralty reveals that the letter requesting the money was signed and sent by Harun and Djafar on July 14, two days before the reexamination process begun on Friday.

When told that according to the Election Law no extra budget was required for the reexamination of documents, Djafar repeated that as head of PPD I, he had to be fair to his members.

He added that PPD I members and party representatives were unable to reexamine the documents immediately after the listing of temporary legislative candidates (DCS), as required by the Election Law, since there was "no time".

The DCS listing was made public via the media before the month-long election campaigning activities started on May 19.

"We were busy then. Now we have the time," he said.

The team in charge of the reexamination (Panlitda), whose members include the 48 party representatives and PPD I members, did not say when they would finish the process.

Head of the committee's program division Muchamad Taufik has said political parties who gain city council seats must replace legislative candidates who are not Jakarta residents.

"If we find that their KTP (identification cards) submitted to us are fake, they can be legally charged," he said.

In addition to checking the identification cards, PPD I will also run checks on the councilors' diplomas and medical records. Their assets will also be audited.(ylt)