Nine candidates set for KPU supervisory board

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The General Elections Commission (KPU) on Monday announced nine candidates for the three remaining seats on the General Election Supervisory Committee, and called on the public to provide inputs on those names.

KPU member Hamid Awaluddin said his office would hold a fit and proper test to screen the candidates on Thursday this week.

The nine candidates feature prominent names like legal expert Harkristuti Harkrisnowo from the University of Indonesia, Muslim scholar Komaruddin Hidayat from the Jakarta Islamic University, Rev. Saut Sirait from the Indonesian Communion of Churches (PGI), Rustam Ibrahim from the Institute of Economic and Social Research, Education and Information (LP3ES), Aceh's Syah Kuala University lecturer Naimah Hassan, Nurjannah of Muslim organization Nasyiatul Aisiyah in Yogyakarta, Zuraini Djamal Irwan a lecturer at Trisakti University in Jakarta, and lecturer Saldi Isra of the West Sumatra Andalas University and Sirra Prajuna from the Independent Committee for Election Monitoring (KIPP).

They would fill the remaining three seats that were left vacant after only three of the 22 candidates met the criteria to sit on the supervisory committee. They were legislator Didik Supriyanto, human rights activist Rozy Munir, and legal expert Topo Santoso. These three had been screened from a list of 517 names who registered themselves for the position.

The supervisory committee will be an independent body in charge of monitoring the transparency and fairness of the 2004 general elections.

By law, the committee must consists of nine members, six of which should be selected from the public. The other three seats have been reserved for the police and officials of the Attorney General's Office.

Hamid said the police had not submitted a candidate as yet while the Attorney General's Office had nominated only one name, Masyhudi.

"We hope the selection can be completed as soon as possible," he told a press briefing.