Deadlock over price delays ballot printing
Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The General Elections Commission (KPU) and the ballot printing consortium failed on Saturday to reach an agreement on the price of the contract, threatening preparations for the general elections, which are now just 49 days away.
The KPU has rescheduled the start of the ballot printing to Feb. 16, but the tender consortium warned the job might only commence on Feb. 23, three weeks behind the initial schedule.
The meeting on Saturday was attended by, among others, KPU members Chusnul Mar'iyah and Mulyana W. Kusumah, tender consultant Sentot Marzuki and representatives from four members of the consortium: PT Temprina Media Grafika, the State Printing Company (PNRI), PT Genta Singgalang Press and PT Pundi Mas Putra Indojaya.
The talks focused on the price to print ballots for the election of House of Representatives (DPR) and Regional Representatives Council (DPD) members.
KPU insisted the price at between Rp 248 (3 US cents) and Rp 266 per ballot, while the consortium demanded between Rp 269 and Rp 538.
"The price difference between the KPU and our clients is normal. We must negotiate the price," Sentot said after the meeting.
He said the KPU should not use the same standards as were set in the 1999 polls.
A spokesman for the consortium, Untung Sastrowijaya from Pundi Mas, said the KPU was only counting the cost of printing, and did not include the price of ink, workers' salaries and the cost of packaging and security.
M. Mufti Mubarok, chief of marketing and public relations at Temprina, said the consortium's price quote was reasonable, given that the 1999 price would be Rp 440 under in today's money.
Mulyana, the chairman of the ballot printing tender committee, was not available for comment on Sunday.
Mufti said the deadlock might delay the printing of ballots until Feb. 23.
"We have yet to receive the film for the printing and we also still have to buy ink, which might arrive in a week, and prepare the plates. The printing could start on Feb. 23, I guess," he said.
With the KPU allotting 20 days for the actual printing, that would mean the ballots would not be ready for distribution until March 13.
Polling stations across the country must have received all of their supplies by March 25, 10 days before the polls.
KPU member Valina Singka Subekti has estimated that distributing the ballots to all of the regental elections commissions would take two weeks.
The KPU and the printing consortium will meet again on Monday to try and resolve their impasse.
Separately, the KPU said the results of elections could be announced nine hours after the ballot counting begins at the polling stations thanks to the development of an IT infrastructure.
KPU is also struggling to settle the controversy over the ink tender. KPU chairman Nazaruddin Sjamsuddin called for a re-tender after eight companies bidding for the project submitted a price quotation far exceeding the budget allocated, but the request was met with opposition from the House of Representatives.
Calls for a re-tender have also surfaced following revelations that most bidding participants are financially unsound.