KPU nixes imported ballot boxes

KPU nixes imported ballot boxes

Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The General Elections Commission (KPU) canceled on Thursday its
controversial plan to import 250,000 ballot boxes from China.

Head of the ballot box tender committee Mulyana W. Kusumah
said the KPU feared that the boxes would not arrive on time.

"As the firm does not have ready stock and it faces
transportation problems, we think it is too risky to continue
with the plan," he said referring to a firm in China.

Mulyana did not mention whether the order was made too late.

Upon their return from a survey trip to China to locate a firm
to produce the boxes, the KPU team decided to shelve the plan, he
said. The firm had a production capacity of 30,000 boxes a day,
but delivery time from Shanghai to Jakarta was 10 days, he said.

With 47 days left until the legislative election, the KPU is
under pressure to produce 2.4 million aluminum ballot boxes
following winning bidders' failure to meet the order.

The import plan had sparked controversy, as importing firm PT
Tricipta Adimandiri had no sales tax records for the past two
years, according to a tax document obtained by The Jakarta Post.

Mulyana said the KPU had offered an additional order for
250,000 boxes to PT Tjakrindo Mas and CV Almas, the second and
third bidders, but only Tjakrindo accepted the offer. Almas
declined the offer as it did not have the production capacity.

With the additional order, Tjakrindo will produce 1.6 million
boxes and Almas will produce 400,000 boxes, while tender winner
Survindo Indah Prestasi has only produced 402,000 boxes.

Tjakrindo and Almas have been producing ballot boxes since
January, following Survindo's failure to produce its initial
order of 2.19 million boxes on schedule.

KPU secretary-general Sussongko Suhardjo said Tjakrindo had a
good record in producing ballot boxes, so it was not apprehensive
about disbursing the Rp 72 billion payment in two installments.

Tjakrindo claimed it had finished producing 877,000 boxes on
Feb. 15 and that production continued at its full capacity of
60,000 boxes per day.

In regards ballot paper printing, Mulyana said that 17
printing firms had reached an agreement with the KPU as to the
price, except Genta Singgalang Press.

Several firms would sign a contract with the KPU on Wednesday
at 7:00 p.m., so they could start printing as soon as possible.

Mulyana said the ballot paper film with the complete list of
legislative aspirants for the House of Representatives, Regional
Representatives Council and Provincial/Regional Legislative
Council would be available on Friday at the latest.

However, a tax document obtained by the Post shows that at
least two printing firms, listed by their initials JT and JAI,
recorded no sales or tax in 2003. In addition, JT had just
registered with the tax office in July.

Another company, WLP, was registered as a four-wheel
automotive company according to the document, but as a printing
firm at the Jakarta Chamber of Trade and Industry. WLP recorded
sales of Rp 192 million in 2003, or only Rp 16 million per month
and made a tax payment of Rp 19.2 million.

The KPU must prepare 660 million ballot papers for the April 5
legislative election, and the KPU has scheduled all election
materials to be delivered to poll stations across the country by
March 25 at the latest.