Ex-KPU members yet to return cars

Ex-KPU members yet to return cars

Moch. N. Kurniawan and Yogita Tahilramani, The Jakarta Post,
Jakarta

Over 50 former staff members of the General Elections Commission
(KPU) and political party officials have yet to return 77
operational vehicles.

KPU member Imam Budidarmawan Prasodjo said on Thursday the
agency had badgered the officials verbally and with formal
letters, but without success.

"Former staff members of KPU, via the Ministry of Home
Affairs, have written a letter to President Megawati
Soekarnoputri in the hope that she will allow them to keep the
vehicles. To date, the President hasn't responded. We hope she
says no to them," Imam told a hearing of House Commission II,
which oversees legal and home affairs.

The vehicles range from motorcycles to Kijang vans lent to
them by KPU for election work and campaigning in the 1999
elections, a 2001 report of the State Audit Agency (BPK) says.

"We strongly urge these officials to return the vehicles as
they belong to KPU," Imam said.

Officials of the Golkar Party, the Indonesian Democratic Party
of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) and the National Awakening Party
(PKB) were among those who have refused to return borrowed
vehicles.

According to data obtained by The Jakarta Post, prominent
figures, such as former KPU chief Rudini, Golkar Party deputy
secretary-general Mahadi Sinambela and former president
Abdurrahman Wahid's spokesman Yahya C. Staquf, are among figures
who have not yet returned cars to KPU.

The "vehicle scandal" is just one of numerous irregularities
discovered by BPK during its scrutiny of KPU between May and June
last year.

Another BPK finding was that 6,000 unidentified typewriters
were procured via "unclear tendering methods" by KPU.

Legislators noted on Thursday that the vehicle scandal
indicated that KPU was weak in resolving disputes. The KPU
general secretariat, which conducts all operational activities of
KPU and administers elections, functions under the auspices of
the Ministry of Home Affairs.

The 1999 election, though hailed as democratic, was marred by
vote-rigging, bribery and extortion.

Political figures who have yet to return KPU cars:
Rudini (former Minister of Home Affairs), Mahadi Sinambela
of Golkar party, Sri Bintang Pamungkas of PUDI, C.M.L. Sitompul
of PDI Perjuangan, Yahya C. Staquf of PKB.