Watchdog claims vote buying in gubernatorial election

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.