PKS steps up pressure on ruling over Depok poll

PKS steps up pressure on ruling over Depok poll

Yuli Tri Suwarni and Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta/Bandung

Over 2,000 members of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) took to
the streets in Bandung on Friday, protesting a court ruling that
declared the Golkar Party candidate Badrul Kamal the winner of
the Depok election.

The pressure against the ruling is expected to increase in the
coming days with the Joint Forum for the Depok Community, a group
that supports the PKS candidate Nur Mahmudi, vowed to stage
another massive protest on Saturday in Depok.

During Friday's protest, the PKS supporters gathered in front
of the office of West Java Governor and West Java High Court,
which handed down a verdict that dashed the hopes of the PKS-
backed mayoral candidate Nur Mahmudi Ismail and his running mate
Yuyun Wirasaputra.

In addition to expressing resentment over the court ruling,
the angry protesters also demanded that the Minister of Home
Affairs delay the inauguration of the Golkar candidate, pending a
final and binding settlement of the case. The protesters said
they were upset as the High Court made its decision based on the
testimonies of just 11 witnesses presented by the Badrul camp.
Only one witness was called from the Depok KPUD, while none were
from the Nur Mahmudi camp or the PKS, fueling suspicion that the
11 witnesses testified in favor of Badrul.

The protesters further argued that the verdict should have
been based on more concrete evidence. The result of the June 26
election was authorized by the Depok General Election Commission
(KPUD), and their decision was endorsed by five witnesses
observing the election.

"The verdict was controversial and did not make sense. We
demand the Supreme Court annul the High Court's verdict," said
Achmad Ru'yat, a PKS councillor participating in the protest.

Responding to the protest, chief of the West Java High Court
Nana Juwana told the crowd of protesters that the decision was
final as the testimonies from the witnesses were not opposed by
the defendant's lawyers.

The West Java High Court found that the votes for Nur Mahmudi
had been inflated by 27,782 votes, while Badrul's votes were
lessened by 62,770 votes.

Following the findings, the panel of five judges decided to
add the 62,770 votes to Badrul's total bringing it to 269,551. In
addition, the votes for Nur Mahmudi were reduced to 204,828 after
the adjustment.

Meanwhile, as the PKS members staged a protest in Bandung, a
team of lawyers hired by the party went to the Supreme Court
building in Jakarta asking the justices to annul the West Java
High Court's verdict of Aug. 4. Responding to the request, the
deputy chief of the Supreme Court, Mariana Sutadi, promised that
the court would proceed with the appeal hearings soon.

The team, including Nur Mahmudi himself, also visited the
office of the Minister of Home Affairs, asking the ministry to
ignore the verdict. However, they were unable to meet Minister M.
Ma'ruf because he was out of town.

Support for the verdict was expressed by Golkar members.
Golkar Party leader, Vice president Jusuf Kalla, asked all
parties to accept the court verdict.

"Whatever the verdict is, I, as a part of the government and
of Golkar, leave it to the court," Kalla told the press after a
function in Tangerang.

The vice president said that the court must have had its own
legal arguments that resulted in the verdict and all citizens,
who abide by the law, should understand that. The statement was
echoed by Golkar deputy leader Muladi, who asked the Minister of
Home Affairs to inaugurate Badrul as soon as possible as the
court verdict had been "conclusive and binding".