KPU urged to file police report over 77 unreturned vehicles

KPU urged to file police report over 77 unreturned vehicles

Moch. N. Kurniawan and Yogita Tahilramani, The Jakarta Post,
Jakarta

An activist has urged the General Election Commission (KPU) to
file a report with the police against recalcitrant political
party officials and former KPU members who have refused to return
77 official vehicles belonging to the state.

"The KPU should stop being so nice with the party officials
and former KPU members, who obviously have no intention of
returning the cars. This is definitely stealing, and this case
must be brought to the attention of the police," the coordinator
of the non-governmental organization Government Watch (Gowa),
Farid Faqih, told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

The 77 vehicles, valued at more than Rp 5 billion and ranging
from Kijang vans to motorcycles, were borrowed by 55 former KPU
members and political party officials during the 1999 elections.

"This is the KPU's own fault. It should wake up and learn that
the cars will not be returned unless legal action is taken,"
Farid said.

The vehicles form part of a long list of items lent out by the
KPU during the 1999 election. Other items include 6,000
typewriters, most of which have since been returned.

The general secretariat of the KPU, which is in charge of the
crucial task of administering the polls, comes under the aegis of
the Ministry of Home Affairs, and is vulnerable to political,
legal and financial interventions by the ministry.

Officials who have not returned their vehicles to the KPU
include two retired directors general of social and political
affairs at the Ministry of Home Affairs, Dunidja and Sutoyo.

Others include former KPU chief Gen. (ret) Rudini, the Golkar
Party's deputy secretary-general Mahadi Sinambela, Mrs. C.
Sitompul of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI
Perjuangan) and spokesman to former president Abdurrahman Wahid,
Yahya C. Staquf.

KPU member Safdec Yusacc said the Inspectorate-General of the
Ministry of Home Affairs was scheduled to soon question the
former KPU members who had not returned the cars.

"Should case files officially be opened following this
questioning, the careers of these men will be badly effected.
There could be administrative sanctions," Yusacc said on Friday.

Minister of Home Affairs Instruction No. 24/1996 stipulates
that those suspected of wrongdoing should be given the chance to
settle the matter amicably either by returning the asset in
question in its original condition, or, if it is lost, by paying
for it in cash over a period of two years.

The 1996 ministerial instruction was a follow-up to Ministry
of Home Affairs Regulation No. 9/1996 on the methods to be used
in dealing with state losses within the Ministry of Home Affairs.

KPU deputy chairman Ramlan Surbakti said that among the
ludicrous excuses given by former KPU members and political party
officials were, "my children still need to use the cars."

Former KPU members and party officials wrote a letter last
year to President Megawati Soekarnoputri in the hope that she
would allow them to keep the vehicles.

While the KPU members hope Megawati will say no, Farid Faqih
said that KPU must not waste time by waiting for Megawati's
response, and should instead take action.