Hundreds of new legislators mired in legal problems

M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta

Over 200 new members of the House of Representatives, the Regional Representatives Council (DPD) and local legislatures are implicated in legal problems that could end up with their having to resign their seats, the Election Supervisory Committee (Panwaslu) says.

Citing reports from its local branches, the official election watchdog disclosed on Wednesday that 257 new legislators, including three who will sit in the House, are mired in legal woes ranging from alleged diploma forgery to being convicted and given jail sentences for substance abuse.

However, most of the problematic legislators, if not all, will likely be sworn in as they can be deprived of their seats only after final and conclusive decisions have been handed down in their cases.

Panwaslu member Didik Supriyanto said on Wednesday that diploma forgery was the most common offense that new legislators were implicated in.

"Two hundred and thirteen legislators are suspected of having forged high school and university diplomas," Didik told a press briefing.

One of the requirements for standing for legislative office is that a candidate has a high school diploma or higher. As a consequence, there was a flood of would-be legislators producing diplomas issued by non-existent high schools, schools that were not recognized by the relevant ministries.

The committee also revealed that eight elected candidates, including one who took a House seat in the Yogyakarta electoral district, were currently standing trial on vote-buying charges. There were also five local legislature members from the province implicated in money politics.

Another Panwaslu member, Topo Santoso, mentioned the case of a legislative council member in Central Java who had been given a jail sentence for substance abuse.

"This sort of crime carries a five-year jail sentence or more, and the legislator may be deprived of his seat if a final and conclusive verdict has been handed down and all legal recourses have been exhausted," Topo said.

He did not reveal the name of the lawmaker. All lawmakers who were elected on April 5 will take their oaths of office on Oct. 1.

Apart from legal problems, Panwaslu also discovered that there were 31 legislative council members who had yet to relinquish their positions as either civil servants or members of the National Police or Indonesian Military (TNI).

Four legislators were also discovered by Panwaslu to have submitted forged medical records.

Panwaslu member Rozy Munir said the General Elections Commission (KPU) would try to deal with the problems affecting the new legislators before they were sworn in on Oct. 1.

He also said that the committee would soon seek clarification from the Ministry of National Education and Ministry of Religious Affairs to determine the authenticity of the diplomas submitted by legislators, and the Ministry of Home Affairs, National Police and the TNI as regards the latest status of legislators who were members of the police or armed forces.

Contacted separately, KPU deputy chairman Ramlan Surbakti said on Wednesday that there were still various legal problems affecting some of the new House and local legislative council members, and gave assurances that the KPU would abide by whatever decisions were made by the judiciary.

"If final guilty verdicts are handed down before the swearing- in ceremonies, the members will be replaced by those candidates who came next on the list of candidates. However, if the verdicts are handed down after they take their oaths, then they can be replaced by the relevant political parties," he said.