Tender winners unable to print ballots
Tender winners unable to print ballots
Moch. N. Kurniawan and Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Some winners of the General Elections Commission (KPU)'s ballot
paper printing project were unable to fulfill their obligations,
the commission said on Wednesday.
The KPU official in charge of the ballot paper tender, Mulyana
W. Kusumah, said 11 tender winners had requested Temprina Media
Grafika and the State Printing Company (PNRI) take over some of
the printing work.
"The KPU plans to allow the tender winners (unable to fulfill
their obligations) to subcontract the jobs to companies that
passed the pre-qualification screening," Mulyana said.
"We might also allow those companies to merge their printing
jobs with other firms."
Eighteen firms won the KPU ballot paper tender.
As of Wednesday evening, Mulyana said he had not yet received
the names of the firms that would subcontract the printing work.
Temprina and firm, Pundi Mas Putra Indojaya, both admitted
they had been asked to take over printing work.
A source told The Jakarta Post one company based in Medan and
one in Jakarta had expressed their inability to print the ballot
papers allotted to them.
Earlier, a tax document obtained by the Post stated that at
least three companies -- JT, WLP, JAI -- were in dubious
financial positions.
The inability of tender winners to print allotted ballot
papers could cause further delays in election preparations, which
have already faced problems after ballot box tender winners
failed to meet their targets.
The KPU will print some 660 million ballot papers that must
reach regencies and municipalities by March 15 and poll stations
by March 25.
In a related development, the government announced a high-
powered team of officials would visit at least 20 of 32 provinces
across the country for final checking on general election
preparations.
The team, led by Minister of Home Affairs Hari Sabarno, will
leave the capital on Feb. 27 and return on March 9.
The campaign period for the April 5 legislative election will
run from March 11 through April 1.
"Should there be something wrong, we will still have an extra
day to solve the problem or find alternatives," Hari said on
Wednesday after attending a limited Cabinet meeting at the State
Palace.
The team would inspect the distribution of ballot boxes and
papers across the country and hold discussions with regional
leaders to check on their readiness for the elections.
It will consist of National Police Chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar,
Indonesian Military chief Gen. Endriartono Sutarto, State
Secretary Bambang Kesowo, National Intelligence Agency chief
Hendropriyono, KPU chairman Nazaruddin Syamsudin, and Elections
Supervisory Committee chief Komaruddin Hidayat.
Hari said the team would visit areas prone to trouble, such as
Aceh, Papua and North Maluku.
"We've selected the provinces randomly, but we will consider
the number of districts and other aspects when we conduct the
inspection," he said.
In the Cabinet meeting, President Megawati Soekarnoputri
stressed regional administrations should support the elections to
ensure everything would go as planned, Hari said.
Indonesia will hold the legislative election on April 5 and
the presidential election on July 5, with possible a runoff on
Sept. 20.