Controversial tenders put KPU credibility at risk
Moch. N. Kurniawan The Jakarta Post Jakarta
The nine members of the General Elections Commission (KPU) may be breathing sighs of relief as most tenders for the procurement of goods have been completed.
However, for the public, a big question mark remains as to whether or not the controversial tenders were carried out properly.
"The tenders have prompted people to question the credibility of the KPU. The members should improve the mechanism of the next tenders," Todung Mulya Lubis, a founder of Transparency International Indonesia, told the Jakarta Post recently.
KPU members oversee the tender process directly.
So far, the KPU has finished three tenders worth a total of Rp 520 billion, consisting of the Rp 130 billion Information Technology (IT) infrastructure tender, the Rp 324 billion aluminum ballot boxes tender, and the Rp 71 billion voter registration card tender.
The Rp 600 billion tender for ballot papers is still underway.
Of the completed tenders, the most controversial was for the ballot boxes because the winning consortium, PT Survindo Indah Prestasi, did not produce aluminum products, while some of the details supplied by the company were reported by some to be fictitious.
The KPU was blamed for failing to check all the information supplied by the winning consortium.
The commission denied the allegations, saying the tender document only required a firm be able to provide office and warehouse goods.
Only after media reports of the so called irregularities, did the KPU conduct checks to see if the company could meet the needs of the tender.
The KPU finally concluded the winning consortium was able to produce the more than 2.1 million ballot boxes for next year's election.
The IT infrastructure tender was won by PT Integrasi Technology who quoted Rp 152.7 billion, while the voter registration card contract was awarded to PT Pura Barutama who quoted Rp 69 billion.
There were no strong objections to the outcomes of the other tenders.
The controversy also sparked debate in the House of Representatives, but legislators failed to agree to set up a working committee to investigate the ballot box tender.
Only the House monitoring team was set up to monitor all KPU activities, including tenders.
Todung suggested that members of the KPU sign an integrity pact to help it increase its credibility.
The signing of the pact will indicate that the commission will not be corrupt in any way.
Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) coordinator Teten Masduki said transparency in the tenders needed improvement and asked the KPU to be more open to criticism.
KPU deputy chairman Ramlan Surbakti said a tender would not be able to satisfy all participants.
He also dismissed suggestions that KPU members needed to sign an integrity pact as there was no legal basis to do it.
"We all agree the norms in the pact, but there is no law requiring us to sign it," he said. "So far we have not changed that decision."
Besides, all civil servants on the commission were bound to government regulations that made corruption illegal, he said.