Court endorses Gafur's election as governor
Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Amid accusations of money politics, the Supreme Court has issued a legal opinion endorsing the controversial election of Abdul Gafur as North Maluku governor and Yamin Tawari as his deputy, saying that the election procedures were complied with.
"After carefully examining the election process in North Maluku, the Supreme Court determines that it was conducted through the correct mechanisms, as stipulated in Articles 39 and 40 of Law No. 22/1999 on regional autonomy, as well as Article 22 of Government Regulation No. 151/2000 on election procedures and the appointment and removal of local officials," the Supreme Court said in its legal opinion signed by Chief Justice Bagir Manan on Nov. 2.
"Should there be accusations that some criminal acts, such as bribery, took place during the election, any party is encouraged to go to court in order to prove the accusations pending the court issuing a verdict over it, as well as imposing legal sanctions," Bagir said in his legal opinion made available to the media on Monday, Antara reported.
The legal opinion allows Gafur, who is a Golkar figure and served as a minister of sports and youth affairs during former president Soeharto's tenure, to replace acting governor Abdul Muhyi Effendie.
Gafur and Yamin were elected North Maluku governor and vice governor respectively on July 25, 2001, but their election was annulled by the North Maluku Legislative Assembly (DPRD) on Sept. 28 due to allegations that Gafur bribed two local legislators, Muhammad Sahafin of the Golkar Party and Muksin Sudara of the United Development Party (PPP), in order to help him win the gubernatorial race.
Sahafin reportedly accepted Rp 66 million (US$6,000), while Sudara had still not received the money by the time he admitted the attempted bribery by Gafur's team.
Gafur and Yamin denied the allegations.
North Maluku Legislative Assembly Speaker Rustam Honoras said in Jakarta in early October that with the annulment of Gafur's election, the North Maluku DPRD would hold a new round of gubernatorial elections before the end of this year.
The government later set up a team to probe the case, consisting of officials from the Directorate General of Regional Autonomy, the Ministry of Home Affairs Inspectorate, the Directorate General of Regional Integrity and members of the House of Representatives' Commission II on legal and home affairs.
Even though the team found indications of money politics and bribery in Gafur's campaign, it said that "the findings might not affect the planned installation of Gafur as governor, as the regulations stipulate that allegations of money politics can only affect the election result if there is more than one legislator reported vote-buying to the provincial legislative council."
The team was referring to Articles 25 and 28 of Government Regulation No. 151/2001.
Following the annulment, 23 local legislators who supported Gafur asked the Supreme Court on Oct. 21 to provide a legal opinion regarding the case.
Even though the Supreme Court's legal opinion is not binding, Gafur's lawyer Djamal Kamarullah immediately urged President Megawati Soekarnoputri to issue a decree installing Gafur as the new governor of North Maluku province.
"There is no other reason for the government to postpone Pak Gafur's installment," Djamal said as quoted by Antara.