Graft suspects contesting polls

Andi Hajramurni and A'an Suryana, The Jakarta Post, Makassar/Jakarta

Building a clean government! This was the vision expressed by Ichsan Yasin Limpo, a candidate running for regent, when he delivered his manifesto to Gowa regental councillors a few days ago in an attempt to prove his anticorruption credentials ahead of the June 27 local leadership election in the regency.

Such visions appear to be a dime a dozen as almost all candidates in local leadership elections around the country have waxed lyrical on the same theme. Even at the national level, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono himself has repeatedly said that the war on corruption would be the first priority of his government.

However, Ichsan's noble vision becomes somewhat ironic given that he is facing serious graft charges. He is one of 14 former South Sulawesi councillors being charged with jointly misappropriating Rp 18.23 billion (US$1.9 million) from the 2003 provincial budget.

Such ironies are commonplace throughout the entire nation. In South Sulawesi alone, besides Ichsan, there is another candidate running for regent and two candidates running for deputy regent in the elections on June 27 even though they have been named suspects in corruption cases. The three candidates are Ince Langke, candidate for regent in Selayar, Andi Muhtamar, candidate for deputy regent in Bulukumba and MT Allorerong, candidate for deputy regent in Tana Toraja. The candidacies of these three Golkar Party members have been roundly condemned by many sides, but all the protests have fallen on deaf ears.

A similar story is to be found in the Central Java capital of Semarang and the North Sumatra regency of Serdang Bedagai. Candidate for Semarang mayor Sukawi Sutarip and candidate for Serdang Bedagai regent Chairullah are both insisting on running for office even though they are being charged for corruption.

Aidir Amin Daud, the chairman of the South Sulawesi General Elections Commission, said they were allowed to stand as they had not violated any electoral rules. In fact, there were no rules prohibiting a suspect from running for public office, including under the Local Government Law (No. 32/2005).

"A person may be barred from running for public office only if he or she has been convicted of a criminal offense and sentenced to a jail term of more than five years, and the verdict has achieved conclusive legal effect," said Aidir.

If a person is convicted and jailed for more than five years but the verdict has not achieved conclusive legal effect, he or she is still entitled to stand in a local leadership election, said Aidir. "Given all this, the election commission has no right to reject the candidacies of persons charged as suspects in criminal or corruption cases," said Aidir.

However, legal observer Aswanto of Hasanuddin University tells a different story. According to Aswanto, a suspect in a corruption or criminal case should be barred from contesting public office. "If somebody has officially been named a suspect, then there will be strong prima facie evidence that he or she has committed a crime. Legally speaking, the election commission should prohibit him or her from running for a local leadership post," said Aswanto.

In addition, he said, if a suspect was elected to a local leadership post, whether it be as governor, regent or mayor, and was subsequently found guilty of corruption, this would disrupt the wheels of the administration and government in the region concerned.

In order to prevent such a scenario from becoming reality, Aswanto called on non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and academics to persuade the public not to vote for criminal or graft suspects in the local elections.