Probe called over ballot box fiasco

Probe called over ballot box fiasco

Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Activists are urging the General Elections Commission (KPU) to
investigate possible irregularities in the process of Rp 311
billion ballot boxes tender following the alleged poor
performance of PT Survindo Indah Prestasi in producing the boxes.

The activists also demanded that the KPU punish both its
officials involved in the tender and the winning company for the
irregularities.

"The winner and KPU officials deserve tough treatment.
Ideally, there should be punishment in accordance with the law,"
Independent Election Monitoring Commission (KIPP) coordinator Ray
Rangkuti said on Sunday.

Law expert Sirra Prayuna and Monopoly Watch chairman Samuel
Nitisaputra agreed with Ray.

"Legal action against those allegedly causing irregularities
is possible without disrupting other preparations for the
elections," Sirra said.

Samuel said: "Law enforcement must be upheld internally (in
the KPU) and externally with the tender winner."

Survindo won the ballot boxes tender in early November with a
bid for Rp 147,065 per box.

But in late December, the KPU discreetly gave 40 percent of
the order for 2.1 million ballot boxes to PT Tjakrindo Mas
without tender as Survindo had produced only 30,000 boxes of the
planned 600,000 boxes as of Dec. 31.

The KPU said Survindo had suffered financial difficulty and a
problem with raw materials for the boxes while the general
election was just a few months away. The election of legislative
members will be held on April 5.

KPU member Chusnul Mar'iyah has claimed that the KPU had the
authority to annul part of or the whole contract with Survindo if
the company failed to meet its obligation.

Samuel said the score obtained by Survindo in the tender was
92, well above the minimum requirement of 80, but the company had
produced far fewer boxes compared to its claim during bidding.

"With its present poor production performance, how come
Survindo obtained such a high score during the tender? There must
be something wrong with the tender process," he said.

Tjakrindo ranked second with a total score of 66, falling
short of the minimum score of 80.

The other four contender consortia were: Borimex, which scored
53, Phun Deang 35, Elang Satria Jaya Abadi 49 and Almas 55.

"So now how can the KPU give part of the tender to a company
(Tjakrindo) that failed to meet the minimum requirement?" Samuel
queried.

Samuel said that if the KPU failed to act firmly on the
matter, the ballot boxes tender case would set a bad precedent
for three other tenders to be held.

"The public will also question the process of ballot paper,
voter cards and Information Technology infrastructure tenders,"
he said.

More than Rp 1 trillion has been allocated from the KPU budget
to hold the four tenders for election purposes.

Ray said that if no action was taken against those involved in
the case, there would be an impression among the general public
that anybody could participate in KPU tenders regardless of their
capability.