Failed gubernatorial candidate wants his money back
Failed gubernatorial candidate wants his money back
Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Failed gubernatorial candidate Mahfudz Djaelani revealed on
Friday that he had given Rp 200 million to 40 city councillors as
part of a downpayment for a promised Rp 2 billion if they elected
him as the next governor of Jakarta.
Mahfudz said the payoff was part of a negotiated deal with the
40 councillors to elect him as the Jakarta governor for the 2002-
2007 term during the election on Wednesday.
"As of 3 p.m. on election day, I was still optimistic that I
would be elected as the governor. But the fact was that my
political rival (Governor Sutiyoso) could pay them more than me,"
Mahfudz stated during a conference call.
Mahfudz, a businessman who was nominated by the Unity Party --
a splinter party formerly connected to the United Development
Party (PPP) and holds one seat in the council -- was among seven
candidates contesting the election on Wednesday. He received
support from the Assembly of Betawi People (Bamus), which wanted
the Jakarta governor to be Betawi, or native of Jakarta.
Mahfudz, who was paired with vice gubernatorial candidate Doli
Diapary Siregar, currently the only councillor from the Unity
Party, only secured three votes from the total of 84 councillors
who took part.
Incumbent Governor Sutiyoso, who won the election, collected
47 votes. Other candidates who took part in the election were Edy
Waluyo, Tarmidi Suhardjo, Marzuki Usman, Ahmad Heriyawan and
Endang Darmawan.
Mahfudz said the 40 councillors who received the payoffs
included some members of the Indonesian Democratic Party of
Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), the National Mandate Party (PAN), the
Crescent and Star Party (PBB) and the Justice and Unity Party
(PKP).
"I deplore those councillors who made statements on
television, saying that there was no money politics involved.
They are liars!" exclaimed Mahfudz.
He said that he would hold a press conference on Monday to
announce the names of the councillors who took his money, if they
refused to return it.
"As a businessman, I always account for all money spent. If
they don't return my money I will publicize their names," he
said.
Previously, a list of 35 councillors who were accused of
involvement in vote-buying scams, was circulated to the press
during the election process. A number of councillors denied that
they had received money from Sutiyoso.
Based on the election regulations, the public, through non-
governmental organizations (NGOs), still has a three-day period
in which the public can file a formal complaint over any
irregularities.
On Friday, two days after the election, the Election Committee
had not received any complaints about irregularities from the
public-appointed NGOs.
One complaint, however, came from a former candidate, Suta
Widhya, who did not make the final candidate list. He questioned
the coded marks made on the ballot papers of Sutiyoso-Fauzi Bowo.
Many analysts earlier criticized this voting method as it could
be manipulated using coded marks for each faction, thereby
facilitating payoffs to each faction.
Suta's complaint was received by deputy chairman of the
Election Committee Ibnu Soemantri. But Ibnu said that the
complaint could not be followed up by the committee, stressing
that the election procedure only had rules pertaining to clear
cases of bribery.
Ibnu admitted that there were certain marks on the ballot
papers of Sutiyoso-Fauzi Bowo, but it did not violate any
agreement between the factions about how to write the names of
candidates.
"If they wanted to raise the issue, it should have been while
the ballots were being counted, not now," said Ibnu, a councillor
from the Military-Police faction.
Soemantri said that the City Council was still waiting for any
public complaints over the result of the gubernatorial election,
the period of which would end on Monday.