Committee discloses problems in overseeing poll

Committee discloses problems in overseeing poll

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Elections Supervisory Committee is finding it difficult to
uncover administrative violations by candidates running for seats
on the Regional Representatives Council in the 2004 general
elections due to a lack of witnesses willing to blow the whistle
on cheaters.

The committee's vice chairman Saut H. Sirait said most
potential witnesses were unwilling to disclose violations by
Council candidates out of fears for their personal security.

"This country does not have a witness protection law. Thus, it
is only normal for people to be worried about their safety if
they report violations committed by Council candidates," Sirait
told The Jakarta Post Tuesday.

Each province is allocated three Council seats in the 2004
elections and a candidate must have been resident in the province
he wishes to represent for at least three consecutive years prior
to the date on which he submitted his candidacy and have lived
for a period of ten consecutive years in that province after he
reached the age of 17.

In addition, a candidate must not have been a member of a
political party for at least four consecutive years prior to the
submission of his nomination papers to the Provincial Elections
Commission (KPUD).

On top of that, a candidates must also be supported by the
signatures of between 1,000 and 5,000 people depending on the
population of the province in which he is standing.

Reports have been circulating for quite some time that many
Council candidates had been furnishing fake or forged documents
concerning the residency and public support requirements.

In East Java, for example, some Council candidates have
submitted fake identity (ID) cards, which are available on the
black market for between Rp 5,000 (60 U.S. cents) and Rp 10,000
each.

In Central Sulawesi, the Elections Supervisory Committee has
indicated that some Council candidates had forced people to
supply them with their signatures and ID card numbers, which were
then used as evidence of support for the candidates.

Some applicants had also reportedly manipulated the
distribution of cheap rice to the poor so as to ascertain
people's ID card numbers.

In Yogyakarta, the local general elections commission has
discovered that 13,000 expired ID cards were used by Council
candidates to support their nominations.

Other candidates also still hold positions as leaders of
political parties, which is prohibited by electoral law.

Under electoral law, such violations carry a maximum penalty
of 18 months in jail, or a Rp 6 million fine.

Sri Sugeng Pujiatmiko, the vice chairman of the East Java
Elections Supervisory Committee, said on Tuesday that witnesses
in two locations in Surabaya, East Java, had disappeared after
the committee tried to contact them.

"These people are afraid to report what they know. But without
their testimony, the cases against the offending Council
candidates are very weak," he said.

To resolve the problem, Saut said the Committee was seeking to
collaborate with a number of monitoring organizations to help
protect witnesses.

"Under our plan, we will encourage monitoring organizations
rather than individuals to report violations committed by Council
candidates to the committee," he said.

Based on this approach, witnesses would anonymously submit
reports to the monitoring organizations, and the latter would
then forward these to the committee, and testify before the court
if necessary, he said.

The General Elections Commission accepted the final
nominations for Council candidates on Monday, and started vetting
them on Sept. 16. This process will continue until Nov. 30.

Some 1,238 people are running for seats on the Council.

The Elections Supervisory Committee plans to recruit over
500,000 volunteers to monitor voting in subdistricts across the
country.

"We will decide on the exact number of volunteers later this
month in cooperation with the House of Representatives and the
General Elections Commission," he said.