| Home > South-East Asia >> Indonesia | |
Security concerns as Prabowo seeks to overturn election result
Jakarta Globe - July 23, 2014
At a press briefing in Jakarta on Wednesday, Prabowo's campaign team called on foreign journalists and the international community to "withhold from congratulatory statements" to Joko.
Also present at the press conference were Prabowo's chief adviser and patron, Hashim Djojohadikusumo, campaign spokesman Tantowi Yahya, and lawyer Mahendrata.
The team laid out what they dubbed as "massive, structural fraud" that took place during the presidential election process.
Golkar Party member Tantowi went on to repeat an allegation Prabowo had made during a televised press conference on Tuesday, claiming that the KPU had failed to heed a recommendation by the Election Supervisory Board (Bawaslu) to hold a revote in more than 5,000 polling stations in the Jakarta area, among others. For this reason, the Prabowo camp accused the KPU of being "unfair and unjust."
"Bawaslu recommended revotes in over 5,000 polling stations in Jakarta alone, as well as in heavily populated regions in East Java," Tantowi said. "The KPU completely ignored these recommendations."
However, Bawaslu denied that it had recommended revotes on such a massive scale, effectively rubbishing the Prabowo camp's claim that the KPU was acting unfairly.
"That claim is incorrect," Bawaslu chairman Muhammad told the Jakarta Globe on Wednesday, stressing that there was no contradiction between Bawaslu and the KPU, as the Prabowo camp has suggested. "There were no contradictions. If there were any, the plenary meeting [between the KPU and Bawaslu on Tuesday] would not have been completed."
Bawaslu member Nelson Simanjuntak echoed Muhammad's statement and told the Jakarta Globe that "violations made in the regions have been properly settled."
"For the facts that I can speak of, I will speak. The recommendation for revotes in 5,000 polling stations, is not true." Nelson said. "The Jakarta Bawaslu [office] never recommended revoting in 5,000 polling stations in Jakarta. What they mentioned was to observe it closely. That was a normative statement." "There was no evidence offered by the claimant," he added.
However, Nelson said he would leave it up to the Constitutional Court to resolve the matter should Prabowo's camp file a lawsuit. "But when the Constitutional Court requests clarification from Bawaslu, I will tell the truth," he said.
'Political means'
Jakarta Bawaslu chairwoman Minah Susanti also backed the statement. "Other than in 13 polling stations, we have never recommended a revote in 5,800 polling stations," Minah said, as quoted by Tempo.co.
Prabowo rejected the official election result on Tuesday, saying that counting had been "flawed" and claiming that there were irregularities at thousands of polling stations across the country.
Later in the day, Anis Matta, president of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), said Prabowo's "red-white coalition" would resort to "political means" as they "no longer trusted the election organizers." Prabowo's coalition partners later raised the possibility of establishing a special panel in the House of Representatives to contest the outcome of the election. Establishing such a panel, or pansus, in the House is just one such measure.
In a bid to undermine the validity of the election result, steps are underway to haul the KPU in front of House Commission II, which oversees domestic affairs, according to another member of the coalition.
Tantowi reaffirmed on Wednesday that its members were taking steps to challenge the result. "These political steps might end up at the formation of pansus on the presidential election [in the House]," Tantowi said. "That is a simple and constitutional thing. A pansus can be formed if something extraordinary takes place."
Golkar Party member Agung Gunanjar Sudarsa, who heads House Commission II and who is also a member of Prabowo's coalition, said the commission would schedule a time to summon the KPU. "There was lots of fraud in election," he said. "We will assemble a special team to look into it. Many odd things happened."
Agung added that the KPU is supposed to be fair in handling reports of fraud and violations, and it should have looked into allegations from the Prabowo-Hatta team.
An estimated 52,000 polling stations had reported irregularities, which put an estimated 21 million votes in question, according to Tantowi. Agung said the KPU should have dealt with these alleged violations before the recapitulation on July 22.
The KPU has insisted that the election results are legitimate and its commissioner, Hadar Nafis Gumay, has denied allegations of fraud.
A successful political challenge of the official result could be dashed however, by apparent fractions within the Prabowo coalition. Golkar Party elites announced a special conference, or munaslub, to replace firm Prabowo-backer Aburizal Bakrie as the party's chairman on July 19, while regional leaders of the United Development Party (PPP) have reoriented themselves to Joko, Kompas reported.
Meanwhile the absence of Prabowo's running mate, Hatta Rajasa, from the press conference where Prabowo said he was withdrawing from the vote-counting process, and his non-appearance at a number of meetings held by the coalition, had also raised eyebrows.
However, Tantowi denied that there were possible factions within the coalition when asked by the Jakarta Globe.
"The solidity of the red-white coalition is contingent on its leadership," he said. "If there were no changes in the seven political parties that are members of the coalition, then I am sure there won't be any cracks, it will stay solid... as a permanent coalition."
Tantowi also explained that the reason Hatta missed the coalition meetings and his absence from the signing of Prabowo's statement when he rejected the vote count was because his "daughter was giving birth."
Security concerns
Meanwhile, Prabowo's chief advisor and brother, Hashim said that he does "have concerns" when the Jakarta Globe asked him about the possibility of rising tension in society given the prolonged dispute on the presidential election results. He said public order and security might be jeopardized if the Prabowo camp's complaints are not addressed properly.
"If we are not allowed things we are entitled to legally, like having a revote, then a lot of people... you know 60 million odd people voted for us, we suspect more... many of them are unhappy with the result," Hashim said.
But he added that "Prabowo has told our supporters to remain calm and not take to the streets and commit violence." Detik.com reported on Tuesday evening that Prabowo supporters wanted to march on the KPU offices.
Hashim said order and security was in the interest of the Prabowo camp. "I live here in Jakarta, I have a vested interest in stability in Jakarta," he said.
While there has not been any conflict related to the election so far, the police and the Indonesian Armed Forces (TNI) are on high alert as ordered by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
Source: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/security-concerns-prabowo-seeks-overturn-election-result/.
See also:
 |