South Sumatra gubernatorial candidate Syahrial Oesman and running mate Helmi Yahya, known as SOHE, reportedly have lost Rp 1 billion (US$108,695) of their campaign funds while campaigning in Baturaja, Ogan Komering Ulu (OKU).
OKU Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Raden Eko Wahyu Prasetyo confirmed the loss Friday, saying that the candidates' treasurer Yudha Rinaldy had reported the incident to the police the same day.
Strong suspicions have been cast upon Yudha's two drivers, Romeson and Bambang Utoyo, whom he left in the car as he was having a meal on Wednesday.
Upon returning to the car, Yudha found both men were no longer in the car nor was the money that had been kept in the car's trunk.
"The fund is for all campaign activities, not just for those held here (in Baturaja)," Yudha said, adding that the missing funds would not disrupt the candidates' campaign on the whole.
Asked for confirmation, however, Syahrial said he knew nothing about the missing funds held by his treasurer.
"I don't know for sure what happened," said Syahrial, who had been scheduled to attend a public debate Friday evening in Palembang with Helmi.
The pair have previously announced they would not attend the debate, jointly organized by the South Sumatra Elections Commission (KPUD) and private television station Metro TV.
They said they could not get to the debate on time as they had a scheduled event the same day in Lubuklinggau, some 350 kilometers away.
They were also scheduled to have a meeting the same day with Megawati Soekarnoputri, Chair of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), which nominated them.
"We are not avoiding the public debate. It's just a scheduling problem," said Faisal Perdana, a SOHE operative.
Alfiantoni of the KPUD confirmed SOHE's absence from the debate Thursday, saying that the matter had been deliberated during the KPUD's plenary session the day before.
Alfiantoni also said the SOHE campaign had asked that the debate be rescheduled for Sunday, but was overruled.
"The KPUD, the other campaign and the organizing electronic media all agreed to stick to the initial schedule," he said.
The other campaign insisted the debate be held as initially scheduled because it had two events on Sunday in Lahat regency and Pagaralan municipality.
"We have to stick to the original schedule because it was previously agreed on by both camps," Anita of the Alex Noerdin-Eddy Yusuf campaign said.
Two pairs of candidates are contending in the South Sumatra gubernatorial race to be held on September 4.
SOHE has been endorsed by a group of political parties including PDI-P, the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) and the United Development Party (PPP).
The other pair is Alex Noerdin and running mate Eddy Yusuf, better known as ALDY, who are endorsed by another group of political parties including the Golkar Party, the National Mandate Party (PAN) and the Democratic Party. -- JP/Khairul Saleh
