Court endorses Gafur's election as governor

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.