Controversial tenders put KPU credibility at risk

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.