Panwaslu warns of fake diplomas from candidates

Panwaslu warns of fake diplomas from candidates

Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Election Supervisory Committee (Panwaslu) revealed on Friday
its suspicion that thousands of legislative candidates had
submitted fake diplomas to the General Elections Commission (KPU)
among their required application documents.

Panwaslu deputy chairman Saut H. Sirait said the candidates in
question had presented certificates from a learning program for
high school dropouts, the Paket C program, which would enable
them to run in the regional legislative election.

Most of the cases are in Jakarta, Central Java, East Java,
Bali, West Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan and South Kalimantan.

Saut said the suspicion was not unfounded, as the certificates
were mostly issued in 2003 and many of the aspirants had obtained
them from regencies or provinces of which they were not
residents.

He also said many of the certificates were issued by the local
office of the ministry of education, not by the schools that
hosted the program.

"These findings indicate aspirants have tried to falsify their
certificates," Saut said.

He said, for example, that candidates from Bali had obtained
certificates from Bekasi, West Java, while those from West
Kalimantan had certificates issued in Tangerang, Banten.

"The great number of cases have made us suspicious. We will
investigate the cases, but it will take time," he said.

He admitted the Panwaslu had not yet found similar cases among
candidates to the House of Representatives, due to difficulties
in obtaining their documents.

The Elections Law says legislative aspirants must be high
school graduates or high school dropouts who had passed the final
exams after attending the government-sanctioned Paket C program.

The KPU and its regional chapters expect legislative
candidates to submit complete documents on Jan. 19 at the latest;
otherwise they will be disqualified.

A second verification process will be conducted from Jan. 20
to Jan. 26 before the KPU announce the final line-up of
candidates on Jan. 28 and Jan. 29.

Saut said the Panwaslu would also follow up reports that a
number of civil servants may have still received January salaries
from the state, although they had resigned in December from their
posts in order to contest the general elections.

Meanwhile, the Panwaslu submitted on Friday its 15-point
amendment to the campaign instructions issued by the KPU.

Saut said that among the proposed revisions were a definition
of what constitutes a campaign and other campaign activities that
did not violate the General Elections Law.

The instructions define an election campaign of political parties
and/or regional legislative candidates as those activities held
to promote their political platforms through the mass media and
at open or closed venues to non-member voters to obtain maximum
support during a particular period set by the KPU.

Saut said this definition was not in line with the General
Elections Law, which did not include the condition, "to obtain
maximum support".

"This disparity would cause a different legal consequence if a
violation is committed during campaigns. Under the General
Election Law, law enforcers are not obligated to prove the
condition, 'to obtain maximum support'," he said.

If the KPU insisted on its definition, he said, the Panwaslu
would refer to the General Election Law instead.

Saut also said the KPU should clearly delineate other campaign
activities that do not violate the General Elections Law, or
parties would easily abuse the campaign instructions.

"For example, the KPU must explicitly add mass rallies, music
concerts, public contests and walk-a-thons in its instructions.
If it fails do so, parties will say that such activities are not
considered campaigns," he said.

The legislative campaign period will run from March 11 to
April 1.