Govt called on to annual Jakarta governor election
Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Three councillors and dozens of activists urged Minister of Home Affairs Hari Sabarno on Monday to annul the result of the recent gubernatorial election due to accusations that city councillors took bribes to vote for certain candidates.
They also demanded the annulment due to the strong public objection against Sutiyoso, who was elected by the 84 councillors on Wednesday for a second term.
"During the election, tens of thousands of demonstrators rejected Sutiyoso. If Sutiyoso is inaugurated, I am afraid people's disappointment will increase a lot, which could threaten security in the city," spokesman of the Jakarta's Student Executive Body (BEM Jakarta) Safri Effendi said.
The delegation of NGO leaders, students and councillors were received by Director of State Apparatus Affairs at the Home Affairs Ministry Dardjo Sumarsono and the Ministry's spokesman Nyoman Sumaryadi.
The other organizations were the Jakarta Residents Forum (Fakta), the Islam Defenders Front (FPI), the Jakarta Social Institute (ISJ), the Islamic Students Association (HMI) and the Betawi People's Organization (POB).
The councillors were Ugiek Soegihardjo of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), Syarifien Maloko of the Crescent Star Party (PBB) and Soleh Rachman of the National Mandate Party (PAN).
They also demanded the establishment of an independent team to investigate the allegations of bribery and other controversies during the election process, including the poisoning and violence against demonstrators.
The possibility of vote-buying was boldly revealed last week by gubernatorial candidate Mahfudz Djaelani, who said that he had paid Rp 200 million to 40 councillors who pledged to elect him, with as much as Rp 2 billion later, if elected.
On Monday, Mahfudz toned down his accusation, and did not publicly reveal the names of the 40 as he had threatened.
The delegation also demanded the Ministry of Home Affairs and the City Council to appoint a caretaker governor and to hold a direct election.
Syarifien also said that the indication of money politics was evidenced by certain codes on the ballot papers.
Another indication of irregularities was expressed by Tricahyo, a victim of the July 27, 1996 tragedy. He said as many as 69 victims of the fatal attack against the PDI headquarters met at a hotel in Central Jakarta on Aug. 26 this year with the PDI Perjuangan central board.
He said they were each given Rp 1.5 million in "compensation" from the party's central board over the military-backed attack.
Tricahyo said the signatures of the victims were then attached at the party central board's letter to its faction in the City Council, which was claimed to be an expression of support from the victims for Sutiyoso's nomination.
Sutiyoso, the Jakarta military commander at the time, is currently a suspect in the incident.
Sutiyoso, who was paired with City Secretary Fauzi Bowo as vice gubernatorial candidate, was elected despite widespread public opposition. At least 15 demonstrators were poisoned after eating snacks given by an unknown man during last Wednesday's demonstration.
On Monday, the election committee was scheduled to hold a meeting to discuss the public criticism over the election process. But it was adjourned until Tuesday because only seven of the 21 committee members bothered to show up.
If the public criticism is ignored, according to the procedures, Sutiyoso will be inaugurated by Hari Sabarno on Oct. 7.