House to form working committee on document forgery case

The House of Representatives Commission II on internal state affairs will establish a working committee to follow up on an alleged document forgery case implicating Andi Nurpati, a former member of the General Elections Commission (KPU) and current member of the Democratic Party’s leadership board.

“We will establish a working committee to evaluate the performance of the General Elections Commission (KPU) and Election Supervisory Body (Bawaslu) during the 2009 elections,” Taufiq Effendi, a Commission II deputy chief, said at the House.

“We also want to find out who benefited from the forgery,” he added.

The case revolves around a dispute between Dewi Yasin Limpo of the People’s Conscience Party (Hanura) and Mestariyani Habie of the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra). Both claimed they won a seat in the House of Representatives to represent the South Sulawesi I electoral region. The case was later brought before the Constitutional Court for a final decision.

Based on a forged court letter dated Aug. 14, 2009, that was allegedly produced by Andi, the KPU issued a letter awarding Hanura the disputed seat. However, in a letter dated Aug. 17, 2009, the Constitutional Court ruled that Gerindra had won.

KPU chairman Abdul Hafiz Anshary said that after receiving the original court letter, the KPU and Bawaslu held a plenary session and canceled the first ruling and granted the disputed seat to Gerindra.

A former court clerk, Zainal Arifin Hoesein, was named a suspect in the case by the police in October 2010.

Sources claim Zainal and Andi had worked on forging the court letter that declared Dewi had won the seat, and sent it to the KPU. Andi has denied the allegation and any involvement in forging the letter.

In June 2010, a year after the 2009 general election saw Yudhoyono re-elected as president, Andi quit the KPU for a post in the ruling party. (swd)