Money talks in April ballot printing contracts

Moch. N. Kurniawan, Jakarta

Officials from the General Elections Commission (KPU) argued in April that they lacked the money to better inform the public on how to properly cast their votes in the legislative election, which may in part explain the fact that spoiled ballots accounted for some 11 million (9 percent) of the 125 million votes cast.

However, over the last few months it has been suggested that a lack of funding was not actually to blame. In fact, it is argued that there was originally plenty of money, but lack of due diligence in the selection of firms to print the ballot papers -- not to mention suspected corruption and collusion -- inflicted losses on the state of billions of rupiah -- money that the KPU desperately needed to properly manage the elections.

A senior executive with one of the winning bidders of a printing contract told The Jakarta Post that his firm still had to pay bribes to the KPU officials in charge of ballot printing even after the commission had made public the results of the poll.

The executive, who requested anonymity, said bribes were necessary to ensure timely payment from the KPU for the printing work.

"We just gave those in charge of the ballot printing extra money. It's common," he said, but refused to reveal the amount of money involved.

The KPU selected 17 firms to print the 660 million ballot papers for the April 5 election. Its final selection was supposed to have been based on the printing machine capacity specifications submitted by the bidders. However, the commission failed to conduct any checks on the ground.

The firms bidding for KPU contracts also tried to beat the competition by fabricating the data they submitted to the commission.

In the end, many of winning bidders turned out to be incapable of meeting the printing deadlines, which caused chronic delays in the distribution of ballot papers. In some areas, the KPU had to delay the elections due to the late arrival of election materials, such as ballot papers and ink.

An investigation by the Post reveals that at least three firms -- Winkarya Lintas Persada, Jenakarya Adi Indah and Dwi Rama -- out of the 17 winning firms did not have the necessary printing machinery, and had inflated their costs.

A broker from another firm found to have subcontracted its printing work also acknowledged that bribery was involved in oiling the tender process.

"It's a common practice to cut through the red tape with money in this country. Nobody can deny it," he told the Post.

Earlier, an executive of another winning firm said that he had paid hundreds of millions of rupiah to those in charge of the ballot paper printing tender.

According to him, all of the printing firms had employed three approaches in attempting to win the KPU contracts -- approaching KPU members, the KPU secretariat, and the KPU logistics bureau.

Yanto Lee, director of Winkarya, one of the successful printing companies, denied suggestions that his company was able to print ballot papers for Rp 25 per color sheet, much lower than the Rp 45.8 the KPU had determined.

"We can print the ballot papers for between Rp 50 and Rp 60 per color sheet," he said, stressing that his firm had never submitted fabricated data on its printing capabilities to the KPU.

He admitted that Winkarya had subcontracted out its printing work to another firm, Pentagraph, but said that this had been done with the KPU's consent.

Jenakarya director Ave Prabawa said his firm's name had been used by a broker when bidding for a ballot paper printing contract for the legislative elections. In return, Jenakarya was paid Rp 15 million.

"We didn't print the ballot papers and we don't know which firms did," he said.

Meanwhile, Edward, the production head of Dwi Rama, denied a report that his company did not have access to four color printing machines, unlike what it had told the KPU.

He said the four color machines were owned by relatives of Dwi Rama's owner, who worked together with Dwi Rama.

KPU member Mulyana W. Kusumah, who chaired the ballot paper tender committee, said he had not seen any KPU officials colluding with printing firms, or helping them win contracts.

He conceded that the commission had been unable to check out all 17 of the winning firms and their facilities, arguing that the KPU was understaffed and short on time.

To prevent a repeat performance, the KPU decided to appoint printing firms directly for the July 5 presidential election.

Regarding the possibility of overpricing, KPU tender consultant Sentot Marjuki said the commission had made its own calculations and come up with a price of Rp 275 for six color sheets -- or Rp 45.8 per sheet -- for the printing of ballot papers of 40 cm x 65 cm and 55 cm x 80.5 cm. He claimed the KPU's price estimate was actually low.

However, a number of the winning firms said they could print six-color ballot papers for between Rp 150 and Rp 180, or between Rp 25 and Rp 30 per color sheet.

The cost of printing 660 million ballot papers, according to the KPU's figure of Rp 275 per color sheet, comes to Rp 184 billion.

However, if the price was Rp 180 per color sheet -- the highest figure quoted by the firms -- the cost would come to some Rp 120.5 billion. Thus, the potential losses to the state amount to Rp 63.5 billion.

The KPU, according to observers, enjoys the crucial attribute of being trusted by the public at large; its members, many of whom are university lecturers, are quite likely to be regarded as inexperienced -- but not corrupt. A further probe into the selection of printing firms for the legislative elections would help ensure that this trust is maintained.

Investigation findings

1. Winkarya Lintas Persada

- Printer specification listed as 4-color, but a check

revealed it to be 2-color

- Submitted price of Rp 25 per color for 6-color ballots

2. Dwi Rama

- Printer specs listed as 4-color, but a check revealed it

did not have color printers

3. Jenakarya Adi Indah

- under the "Specifications for printers and price" section, it had

entered: "Refer to PT Nusantara Lestari"

Source: The Jakarta Post

The above report was made possible with the support of the Coalition for a Free and Fair Election.

The writer is a journalist of The Jakarta Post.