NGO fears graft in regional elections

JAKARTA: A non-governmental organization (NGO) urged the government on Monday not to issue a regulation allowing for a direct appointment of regional election materials providers.

The direct appointment of suppliers without a proper tender mechanism has been proposed by some people as an excuse to beat the nearing June deadline. Some regions are scheduled to hold their regional elections in June.

Hadar Gumay from the Centre for Electoral Reform (CETRO) said that such direct appointment could lead to various forms of malfeasance in the use of state funds, such as has been alleged to have been done by the General Elections Commission (KPU).

Therefore, he said the government should issue a decree to make the June deadline more flexible to give each region adequate time to prepare for the elections. -- JP