Panwaslu clears police chief of partiality charges

Panwaslu clears police chief of partiality charges

Slamet Susanto and Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post,
Yogyakarta/Jakarta

The Yogyakarta Election Supervisory Committee (Panwaslu) cleared
on Thursday Yogyakarta city police chief Sr. Comr. Condro Kirono
of partiality charges, saying that he did not intentionally store
thousands of T-shirts bearing the image of presidential candidate
Megawati Soekarnoputri.

In Jakarta a Panwaslu member told a committee hearing the
alleged election partiality charge against former Banyumas Police
chief Sr. Comr. Andi Mapparesa that the officer was guilty of
ignoring a requirement for fairness and honesty during an
election.

Yogyakarta Panwaslu chairman Teguh Basuki said on Thursday
that after his team interrogated seven witnesses, including
Condro, the team concluded that the T-shirts had been stored only
temporarily at the city police headquarters.

"Based on our clarification, the T-shirts belonged to Sena
Riyakudu, Condro's brother-in-law. He used the police station as
the delivery address because his house is far from the city.
Therefore, Condro can't be blamed for storing the T-shirts," said
Teguh.

He said that the T-shirts were taken in private vehicles to
Condro's official residence after two hours.

Meanwhile, Panwaslu member Masyhudi Ridwan told a committee
trying Mapparesa that the officer violated Article 2 of Law No.
23/2003, which stipulates that people must be fair and honest in
providing information on candidates during an election.

"The hearing has listened to the expert's opinion and will
hand down a decision next week. According to him, Mapparesa has
been proven to have acted unfairly and dishonestly in the
election. However, from the three charges leveled against him, he
committed only one violation," said Soenarko.

He explained that there was no evidence to prove that
Mapparesa had been involved in money politics or unauthorized
campaigning at the May 28 meeting.

Mapparesa admitted in front of the committee last Wednesday
that he had been partial and had acted beyond his authority by
endorsing President Megawati Soekarnoputri in front of the family
members of police personnel and retired police officers in a
meeting on May 29.

After the hearing, Comr. Gen. Binarto, chairman of the
committee, said that it would not be hearing other opinions from
outside, including from experts, as Mapparesa had admitted his
misconduct.

Committee members, however, failed on Monday to agree on
witness testimony and the kind of punishment to be handed down to
Mapparesa, prompting them to seek an expert opinion.

"We need to hear an expert opinion to enable the committee to
take a decision quickly," said Paiman.

The police have been under fire recently over their alleged
lack of neutrality in the elections.

In addition to the two cases, the North Sumatra Panwaslu
established a special team to investigate the alleged involvement
of Medan Police in endorsing Megawati at a meeting on July 24 in
a restaurant in Jl. Adam Maliki.

Investigations, however, may not proceed as students who first
made the allegations were too afraid to report the matter to the
police, according to the North Sumatra Panwaslu.