KPUD reports party for misrepresenting 'member'

KPUD reports party for misrepresenting 'member'

Hasrul, The Jakarta Post, Kendari, Southeast Sulawesi

A local poll organizer has reported the Regional United Party
(PPD) to the police for using the name of a civil servant in
Kendari mayoralty, La Ode Abdul Rahim as a member of its
executive board.

Muhammad Arafat, a member at the Kendari General Elections
Commission (KPU), said that the PPD's Kendari branch was reported
to the police because it had registered the name of the civil
servant as a member of its executive board while the party was
applying to KPUD to contest the upcoming election, but it was
made without Abdul Rahim's consent.

"Worse, Abdul Rahim is a civil servant, so he is not allowed
to be on the party's executive board, unless he resigns from his
post," said Arafat.

The case was discovered by the KPUD in November last year as
the local poll organizer was verifying application documents
lodged by the party. The KPUD rechecked with authenticity of the
documents with several related parties. When the KPUD tried to
confirm with Abdul Rahim that he was a member of the executive
board of Kendari's PPD branch, Abdul Rahim claimed he had no idea
about it.

The KPUD then conveyed the case to the Kendari Elections
Supervisory Committee (Panwaslu) and Panwaslu reported it to the
police in December last year.

The police began questioning witnesses in the case on
Wednesday.

"I have just been questioned as a witness in the case," Arafat
said on Wednesday at the Kendari Police headquarters.

Whether the local KPU will disqualify the party in the
upcoming election in the mayoralty depends on the outcome of the
investigation by the police, said Arafat.

Other witnesses questioned in the case were Ajessar Boy, a
member of Panwaslu, Hasbuddin, a member of Kendari KPUD and La
Ode Abdul Rahim.

"We cannot draw any conclusions in this case, because we are
still questioning the witnesses and collecting evidence," said
Kendari Police chief of detectives First. Insp. Yos Guntur.

Separately, Andi Makmur, the chairman of PPD's Kendari branch,
said that the party admitted the mistake. He said that the party
had apologized to Abdul Rahim, and Abdul Rahim had accepted the
apology.