Govt told to drop detained KPU member from body

The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Sat, 11/03/2007 4:59 PM

Wahyoe Boediwardhana and Ridwan Max Sijabat, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta, Malang

General Elections Commission (KPU) member Syamsul Bahri, a corruption suspect in an industrial plantation development project, was detained Friday after the Malang Prosecutor's Office completed his case file.

""We detained Syamsul at Lowokwaru Penitentiary after we completed his dossier,"" the head of the prosecutor's office, Adam MH, told The Jakarta Post in East Java.

Syamsul, whose inauguration to the seven-member elections commission has been postponed while awaiting a final court ruling in his case, was named a suspect in April 2006 over the Industrial Plantation Zone project.

The professor of agriculture at Malang's Brawijaya University has also been linked to another corruption case related to a sugar factory project, also in Malang.

One of Syamsul's lawyers, Robikin Emhas, protested his client's detention.

He proposed his client be released on a guarantee letter signed by Syamsul, his lawyers and the Brawijaya University rector.

""The arrest is unreasonable since my client is not guilty, and many have guaranteed that, including the rector,"" Robikin told the Post.

Syamsul protested his arrest by refusing to sign his detention letter.

Separately, House Speaker Agung Laksono called on the government to drop Syamsul from the list of KPU members and let the House of Representatives seek his replacement.

Agung said President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono would be taking a major political risk and the elections committee would have its credibility damaged if Syamsul was sworn in.

""Let the home affairs commission (at the House) take one of the remaining 14 of 21 candidates proposed by the government to be selected by the House,"" he said.

Ferry Mursyidan Baldan, a member of the home affairs commission, said the commission would likely conduct ""fit and proper"" tests for the remaining candidates to seek a replacement for Syamsul.

He said Saut Hamonangan Sirait, who was in eighth position on the list of candidates as ranked by the House commission, would not automatically replace Syamsul.

The Golkar faction on the commission reportedly has problems with Saut because of what is said was evidence of his alleged involvement in past attempts to disband Golkar party.

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