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.