PKS reports poll officials for deception

PKS reports poll officials for deception

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta/Yogyakarta

The Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) reported on Thursday two
election supervisory officials to the National Police and accused
them of giving false testimony at a court hearing held to settle
the Depok mayoral election dispute.

PKS spokesman Yogo Pamungkas publicly claimed that two
officials from the regional election supervisory committee
(Panwasda) Yoyok Effendi and M. Hasan had given false statements
during the hearing at the West Java High Court.

"Their testimonies were one of the reasons that we lost in
court. We have evidence that both men were giving false
testimony, when they told the judges about their assumptions,
which were not based on real facts in the field," Yogo explained.

"We also have witnesses, most of them are local residents,
that will challenge the statements of the two supervisory
officials on the poll."

The police said that they would investigate the case as soon
as possible.

The move is the latest effort by PKS in its fight against the
ruling of the West Java High Court, which recently annulled the
initial victory of PKS candidate Nur Mahmudi Ismail in West
Java's Depok mayoral election, and instead declared Golkar Party
candidate Badrul Kamal as the winner. The Court ruled that 27,782
votes had been incorrectly given to Nur Mahmudi, and 62,770 votes
taken away from Badrul.

Many protested the controversial ruling, largely due to the
their assumption that the court's decision was issued based
solely on evidence presented by witnesses believed to be Badrul's
supporters, while none of Nur Mahmudi's supporters were summoned
to testify.

PKS and some experts have urged the Supreme Court to review
the ruling, but Supreme Court Chief Justice Bagir Manan said on
Wednesday that the High Court's ruling was final and binding.

While admitting there were "bad laws" and "good laws," people
should respect them.

On Thursday, former PKS leader Hidayat Nurwahid, who is now
Speaker of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), criticized
Bagir's statement.

Hidayat said that as a legal institution, the Supreme Court
should make a correction of those "bad laws."

"I don't understand what capacity Mr. Bagir was in when he
made that statement, whether it was made in his capacity as
Supreme Court chief or what. Regardless, the Supreme Court should
have been able to correct the legal system because it's a mandate
of reform," Hidayat said after opening the Anti-Corruption Summit
at Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta.

Meanwhile, in favor to Bagir's statement, the Constitutional
Court chief Jimly Asshiddiqie said that the West Java High
Court's ruling was indeed final and was the last resort in the
legal process.

"I have to stick with the statements of the Supreme Court
chief. The Election Law stipulates that the high court's ruling
is final and there are no other legal avenues beyond that," he
told reporters in his office on Thursday.

He added that the high court was picked as the sole legal
avenue to settle regional election dispute, with only one
hearing, to prevent lengthy legal procedures in such disputes.

"Regional election cases are related to the continuity of
governmental administrations, therefore, we imposed a speedy
trial mechanism, which is compatible in many countries in the
world."

PKS has the right to fight it, but Jimly said it would be a
futile attempt because their requests would be rejected.