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Make Fake Election Letters Public, Says Indonesian Election Board
Camelia Pasandaran | November 03, 2009

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The Elections Supervisory Board on Monday suggested that the Constitutional Court make public all cases of fake letters that may have affected seat distribution at the House of Representatives.

“We need this to double-check whether the seat distribution process has been well managed,” said Bambang Eka Cahya Widodo, a member of the board, also known as Bawaslu.

Previously, Constitutional Court chief judge Mahfud MD had said that 16 of these so-called fake election results letters were reported to have been issued by the court. Some were related to election disputes in Lampung and South Sumatra.

More recently, Mahfud said the number of fake letters affecting election results may have topped 16, as more cases were reported from Papua.

The General Elections Commission (KPU) has been strongly criticized for issuing a decision granting a seat to Dewi Yasin Limpo, a legislative candidate of the People’s Conscience Party (Hanura), based on a letter allegedly sent by the court that later turned out to be fake.

The appointment was cancelled following clarification by the court.

Andi Nurpati, a KPU member, has been named as the person who had received the original version of the letter from the court on Aug. 17, but who introduced the fake version on Aug. 21 during a commission meeting on seat distribution. She has denied the accusation, saying she was “not a postman.”

Bambang said that apart from Dewi’s case, another court clarification letter was used during the Aug. 21 meeting to grant seats to Daryatmo Mardiyanto, from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and Ahmad Yani, from the United Development Party (PPP). The letters were dated Aug. 27.

Bambang said the Constitutional Court should remain consistent, and in their clarification letters only award seats to the party and not specific to candidates.

Abdul Mukthie Fadjar, a Constitutional Court judge, recently said the court has never issued explanation letters distributing candidate-based votes. “Clarification letters are based on the ruling,” he said. “We only explain the votes for the party, not for candidates. The one who gets the seat is the candidate who gets the majority vote.”

In Dewi’s case, Mukthie, who also chairs the court’s investigative team on the matter, said the probe was expected to wind up this week.

“So far, we have questioned more than five court officers,” he said. “We questioned [members of] our staff, who usually type letters, as well as the delivery division and others.”

Mukthie said Zainal Arifin Hoesein, the one who allegedly signed the letters, had also been questioned.

“We hope that no judges were involved in this case,” he said. “But if there is any judge involved, there is the mechanism of an honorary council,” he said, referring to the KPU’s internal body that looks into allegations of misconduct.

Mukthie said the court has taken the initiative to investigate the cases after the KPU said it was to blame for the fake letters.

“Actually, both the court and the KPU should investigate the case,” he said. “But if our investigation strongly indicates that KPU members or staff were involved in this case, we will report it to the police.”