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.