DPD candidates reported to police for alleged violations

Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Election Supervisory Committee (Panwaslu) have filed at least eight police reports in several provinces over violations involving Regional Representatives Council (DPD) candidates, who have allegedly committed wrongdoing in their efforts to woo popular support.

Panwaslu member Didi Supriyanto said on Friday that some DPD candidates in Central Sulawesi and North Sulawesi had allegedly copied the identity cards of people, without their knowledge, in order to qualify for the legislative election.

"We're still trying to collect all reports from other regional branches of Panwaslu. The cases we reported to the police serve as a warning for other candidates and we expect the police to investigate these cases," Didik told a press briefing on Friday.

Also attending the briefing were Abdul Kholik of Panwaslu in Semarang municipality, Toar N. Palilingan of Panwaslu's North Sulawesi office, Lendy Siar of Panwaslu in Minahasa regency, North Sulawesi and Mansur Pondang of Panwaslu office in Tolitoli, Central Sulawesi.

In its report to the police, the Panwaslu's Central Sulawesi branch said DPD candidates Kamil Badrun, Nurmawati Bantilan and Abdul Gani Hado had allegedly submitted copies of ID cards from residents in Tolitoli and Banggai regencies without their consent.

Law No. 12/2003 on electoral procedures says a DPD candidate needs between 1,000 and 5,000 confirmed supporters to be eligible for the election, depending on the population of the province he or she will represent. The support must be proven by copies of ID cards.

Some witnesses claimed that their ID cards were misused by the candidates as they had never supported the nomination of those candidates.

Deputy chairman of the Panwaslu office in Semarang, Abdul Kholik, said DPD candidate Siti Fatimah had also been reported to the police for copying ID cards without the consent of the holders, who eventually reported the violation to the Panwaslu office.

The Panwaslu regional offices said on Friday the DPD candidates violated article 137 of the election law, and faced a maximum sentence of 18 months and/or a maximum fine of Rp 6 million.

Meanwhile, the North Sulawesi Panwaslu chairman Toar N. Palilingan said DPD candidate Adnan Mandiri was found to occupy a post in the Reform Star Party.

Article 63 of the election law prohibits a DPD candidate from holding a post in a political party within the last four years before the election.

The Panwaslu provincial office in North Sulawesi has also found that the secretary-general of the province's General Elections Commission (KPUD) office, W. Poluan, had helped a DPD candidate, Sientje Sondakh Mandey, collect identity cards.

"We demand the KPU to form a disciplinary committee to hear the case," the Panwaslu office chairman Toar said.

Separately, KPU chairman Nazaruddin Sjamsuddin said he would verify the report before forming the disciplinary committee.