KPU members mull resignation over unclear status
Tiarma Siboro and Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The General Elections Commission (KPU) is facing a brain drain as the institution has yet to settle a dispute over the status of its members, suggesting gloomy prospects for the upcoming elections.
Several members of the commission expressed their intention to quit on Friday, refusing to resign or take long leave as civil servants as demanded by the newly passed Elections Law.
The commission has around one year left to prepare for the direct elections of House of Representatives legislators and the president, which are slated to take place in June and August respectively, according to the KPU timetable.
According to the legislation, all the 11 commission members will serve until 2006 and must work on a permanent basis. With the new law automatically coming into effect one month after its passage, by March 18 at the latest, the members have to state their commitment to the institution by April 18.
All but two members of the commission are civil servants.
KPU chairman Nazaruddin Syamsudin said the discussion on the commission's membership was over and suggested that those who refused to resign as civil servants should take extended leave as permitted by the law.
"During their time off they will not receive their monthly salaries, only their allowances as KPU members. They won't be allowed to take up jobs other than their state duties," Nazarudin said on Friday.
"It doesn't matter if they opt to quit the KPU. We employ hundreds of staff here to assist us in completing the election process."
None of the KPU members had formally put in for resignation as of Friday, according to Nazaruddin, a professor in politics at the University of Indonesia (UI).
KPU deputy chairman Ramlan Surbakti and member Mudji Sutrisno have disclosed their intention to quit the commission as they are unwilling to give up their jobs as lecturers.
Ramlan is a civil servant who works as a lecturer in Airlangga University in Surabaya, while Mudji, who is also a Catholic priest, teaches in the Driyarkara Institute of Philosophy in Jakarta.
Another KPU member, Imam B. Prasodjo, also said he would leave the commission. He demanded on Friday a clarification of Article 18 of the Elections Law, which does not specifically require KPU members to resign as civil servants.
"The legislators who deliberated the bill remain split over the article," said Imam, who also teaches at UI's School of Social and Political Sciences.
He was referring to the chairman of House Commission II for law and domestic affairs, Teras Narang, who insisted that the KPU members had to resign as civil servants, and Ferry Mursyidan Baldan who voiced a contrary opinion.
"Whom should we believe?," Imam said. "Pak Nazarudin said we could take leave as lecturers while working for the KPU, but for how long? Should it last until the election takes places in 2004 or until our terms end in 2006?"
In a related development, House Commission II members Agun Gunandjar Sudarsa and Patrialis Akbar called for a consultation meeting between the KPU, the government, and lawmakers to clarify the controversy surrounding electoral matters.
"The government, the House, and the KPU must sit down together to avoid misunderstandings," Patrialis of Reform faction told The Jakarta Post on the sidelines of a meeting here on Friday.
Patrialis said all 11 members of the KPU had visited foreign countries to study the organization of elections. Therefore, they should not resign on the spur of the moment.
Agun of Golkar faction concurred, saying that a consultation meeting would help the three institutions resolve various problems ranging from the time frame for elections to the employment status of KPU members.
Both Agun and Patrialis agreed that the elections commission must be given enough time to prepare for the 2004 general elections.
"Principally, the KPU must be given enough time to make preparations for the elections," Agun said.