Panwaslu sets deadline for parties' complaints
JAKARTA (JP): The Election Supervisory Committee (Panwaslu) on Wednesday gave all 27 political parties that have refused to sign the official poll report until 5 p.m. Thursday to file their complaints of election irregularities.
Djoeharmansyah Djohan, spokesman for the General Elections Commission (KPU), told The Jakarta Post that Panwaslu sent a letter regarding the deadline to the commission on Wednesday.
He said the letter, which was personally delivered to KPU chairman Rudini, also stipulated that Panwaslu would directly endorse the election results if the 27 parties missed the deadline.
Earlier this week, the commission gave representatives of the 27 parties the opportunity to change their minds and accept the election results, after Panwaslu verified their complaints.
The small parties' refusal to endorse the poll results has received strong criticism.
Mahfud MD, a professor of constitutional law at Indonesian Muslim University (UII) in Yogyakarta, called the 27 political parties "immature".
"While unable to win the people's support in the elections, they should accept their defeat and respect other parties securing the support. They must be democratic," Antara quoted him as saying in Yogyakarta on Thursday.
Abdurrahman Wahid, chairman of the largest Muslim organization Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), said at NU's secretariat on Wednesday that it was the small parties' right not to endorse the election results. "However, the poll results will remain valid without their endorsement."
Similarly, Yogyakarta Governor and monarch Sri Sultan Hamengukubuwono X doubted the rationale provided by the small parties.
However, Harun Alrasid, who resigned as KPU deputy chairman early this month, said it was the authority of the KPU, not the President, to endorse the election results.
Quoting the 1999 electoral law, he said the election results are valid if at least two-thirds of the KPU's members ratify them.
In a plenary meeting on Wednesday, the 27 political parties questioned Rudini, who delivered the election results on Monday afternoon to President B.J. Habibie.
Rudini, who has been widely criticized for rejecting the election results, said the elections commission in its plenary session on Thursday is expected to propose a political "breakthrough" to encourage them to endorse the poll results.
He declined to specify what kind of political breakthrough the commission would propose to the president.
Scandal
Meanwhile, sources at the commission expressed concern over the KPU's tarnished image since it was established in March.
They said many KPU members were involved in a graft scandal with a number of printing companies that won the bid to print more than 140 million ballot papers for the recent elections.
"At least three commission members were involved in the graft scandal," one source said, adding that the case had been reported to the commission's secretary-general.
He said Syafiuddinsyah Nasution, who has been absent from the election commission's sessions in recent weeks for health reasons, was suspected by commission members of receiving Rp 1 billion (US$149,253) as a kickback from a big printing firm.
Syafiuddinsyah, a representative of the Peace Loving Party, has yet to announce its party's stance on the election results.
A total of 19 firms won the ballot printing project, worth around Rp 1.4 trillion in total.
Another source said many KPU members have also proposed some 60 percent hike to their meeting session fees, from the current Rp 150,000 to Rp 250,000.
"It is crazy and the KPU has no sense of crisis because besides the incentive, KPU members have also been paid about Rp 2 million monthly," he said.
Meanwhile, the University Network for Free and Fair Elections (Unfrel) denied on Wednesday all corruption charges involving accountability of foreign financial assistance.
"Our operations have been funded by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
"The fund from UNDP has been allocated for operational costs of Unfrel's 22 regional secretariats, amounted Rp 26.37 billion (US$3.7 million), while the Rp 4.49 billion (US$640,000) fund from USAID has been allocated to finance our national secretariat activities," Dicky C. Pellupessy, Unfrel's executive director, said in press conference.
He said Unfrel spent only Rp 24 billion of the total fund and would return the remaining Rp 6.8 billion to donors.
"A financial audit by an independent auditor is on the go, so there is no grounds to accuse us of embezzling the donors' money," he said.
Meanwhile, Pellupessy's colleague Todung Mulya Lubis charged that the allegations were defamatory. "The allegation was not supported with sufficient evidence." (rms/05/har)