Watchdog claims vote buying in gubernatorial election

Jupriadi, The Jakarta Post, Makassar

An election watchdog has alleged that vote buying took place in the election of South Sulawesi governor and vice governor on Nov. 29 and urged legislators to declare the result invalid.

Abraham Samad of the Coalition for the Monitoring of Gubernatorial Succession (KPSG) said on Tuesday that he had also urged the provincial administration to set up a committee to organize a direct gubernatorial election in the province.

"We demand that the provincial legislature declare the result of the election invalid," Abraham said on the sidelines of a meeting with local police on Tuesday.

KPSG consists of several non-governmental organizations and professional groups, including the Anti Corruption Committee (ACC), the Committee for Sulawesi Legislative Monitoring, the Legal Aid Institute, Ujung Pandang Polling Center, and the Alliance of Independent Journalists.

Amin Syam and his running mate Syahrul Yasin won the Nov. 29 gubernatorial election, defeating Nurdin Halid, and running mate Iskandar Manji, and candidates Aksa Mahmud and partner Malik Hambali.

Amin, who is also chairman of the provincial Golkar office, is provincial legislature speaker, while Syahrul is Gowa regent

Abraham said some indications of money politics included a series of meetings between councillors and loyal supporters of one of the candidates. The meetings, he said, took place at hotels in Jakarta, Makassar, Singapore and Bali.

"Based on those facts, it can be concluded that the election process involving the councillors and the candidates violated the law as stipulated in Law No. 11/1980 on bribery, and Law No. 31/1999 on corruption," Abraham said.

He also alleged that the election was not held in accordance with Government Regulation No. 151/2000 on elections, which, according to Abraham, requires candidates to obtain a recommendation from the home minister before running for the post.

"This is a controversy. The minister says he did not issue a recommendation. In fact, the law stipulates that an election can proceed only after a ministerial recommendation is issued," Abraham said.

KPSG, Abraham said, had reported 75 provincial legislature members and governor-elect Amin and deputy governor-elect Syahrul to the police.

Election committee member Edy Baramuli, however, denied the accusation, saying that there was no problem with the election process.

"The election committee has never violated procedures and regulations set out in Government Regulation No. 151 and election rulings. So what's the problem?" Edy said.

Commenting on the accusation of money politics, Edy said that he was ready to receive complaints as long as they could be substantiated.