Faisal-Biem set to submit documents to poll body

Independent teammates Faisal Basri and Biem Benjamin are set today to submit the required documents of supporters’ signatures and ID card copies to the Jakarta General Election Commission (KPUD) to register for this year’s regional election.

Biem, a local politician and the son of late legendary Betawi entertainer Benyamin Suaeb, said Friday that the pair would only submit to the commission 430,000 signatures and 547,359 copies of IDs collected thus far.

“We cannot submit the rest for now because we are still inputting them in our database, as the commission needs both the hard copies and soft copies of the documents,” he told reporters at the pair’s headquarters in Tebet, South Jakarta.

The pair had also collected total donations of Rp 3 billion (US$333,000) from their supporters, including Rp 980 million that they collected in a fund-raising gala in Jakarta earlier this week.

In order to be able to participate in the election, independent candidates are required to gather the signatures and copies of ID cards from 4 percent of Jakarta residents, or 407,340 people in the capital.

Biem said that he and Faisal would arrive at the KPUD’s document collection point at the National Library on Jl. Medan Merdeka Selatan, bringing a traditional Betawi parade, “complete with traditional ondel-ondel giant effigies and pencak silat performance”.

More than a thousand supporters are reportedly planning accompany Faisal and Biem in submitting the documents.

Other independent hopefuls, retired Rear Marshal Prayitno Ramelan and businessman Teddy Suratmadji, said they were also optimistic about their registration, saying they have collected 500,000 signatures and ID copies.

Prayitno had planned to submit the documents on Friday but later decided to postpone the submission until Sunday.

“There are absolutely no problems with the postponement. We just need more time to tidy up the documents and to split them into separate boxes, with one box for each sub-districts,” Prayitno told the Post over a text message on Friday.

In the past, independent tickets were dismissed as having no chance in local elections, which were usually dominated by wealthy and powerful political parties. (mim)