[Nasional-e] Failed gubernatorial candidate wants his money back

[Ambon]

The Jakarta Post
Sept. 15, 2002

Failed gubernatorial candidate wants his money back

Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Failed gubernatorial candidate Mahfudz Djaelani revealed on Friday that he
had given Rp 200 million to 40 city councillors as part of a downpayment for
a promised Rp 2 billion if they elected him as the next governor of Jakarta.
Mahfudz said the payoff was part of a negotiated deal with the 40
councillors to elect him as the Jakarta governor for the 2002-2007 term
during the election on Wednesday.
"As of 3 p.m. on election day, I was still optimistic that I would be
elected as the governor. But the fact was that my political rival (Governor
Sutiyoso) could pay them more than me," Mahfudz stated during a conference
call.
Mahfudz, a businessman who was nominated by the Unity Party -- a splinter
party formerly connected to the United Development Party (PPP) and holds one
seat in the council -- was among seven candidates contesting the election on
Wednesday. He received support from the Assembly of Betawi People (Bamus),
which wanted the Jakarta governor to be Betawi, or native of Jakarta.
Mahfudz, who was paired with vice gubernatorial candidate Doli Diapary
Siregar, currently the only councillor from the Unity Party, only secured
three votes from the total of 84 councillors who took part.
Incumbent Governor Sutiyoso, who won the election, collected 47 votes. Other
candidates who took part in the election were Edy Waluyo, Tarmidi Suhardjo,
Marzuki Usman, Ahmad Heriyawan and Endang Darmawan.
Mahfudz said the 40 councillors who received the payoffs included some
members of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), the
National Mandate Party (PAN), the Crescent and Star Party (PBB) and the
Justice and Unity Party (PKP).
"I deplore those councillors who made statements on television, saying that
there was no money politics involved. They are liars!" exclaimed Mahfudz.
He said that he would hold a press conference on Monday to announce the
names of the councillors who took his money, if they refused to return it.
"As a businessman, I always account for all money spent. If they don't
return my money I will publicize their names," he said.
Previously, a list of 35 councillors who were accused of involvement in
vote-buying scams, was circulated to the press during the election process.
A number of councillors denied that they had received money from Sutiyoso.
Based on the election regulations, the public, through non-governmental
organizations (NGOs), still has a three-day period in which the public can
file a formal complaint over any irregularities.
On Friday, two days after the election, the Election Committee had not
received any complaints about irregularities from the public-appointed NGOs.
One complaint, however, came from a former candidate, Suta Widhya, who did
not make the final candidate list. He questioned the coded marks made on the
ballot papers of Sutiyoso-Fauzi Bowo. Many analysts earlier criticized this
voting method as it could be manipulated using coded marks for each faction,
thereby facilitating payoffs to each faction.
Suta's complaint was received by deputy chairman of the Election Committee
Ibnu Soemantri. But Ibnu said that the complaint could not be followed up by
the committee, stressing that the election procedure only had rules
pertaining to clear cases of bribery.
Ibnu admitted that there were certain marks on the ballot papers of
Sutiyoso-Fauzi Bowo, but it did not violate any agreement between the
factions about how to write the names of candidates.
"If they wanted to raise the issue, it should have been while the ballots
were being counted, not now," said Ibnu, a councillor from the
Military-Police faction.
Soemantri said that the City Council was still waiting for any public
complaints over the result of the gubernatorial election, the period of
which would end on Monday.