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".