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Audit team formed for Dem convention
The committee of the Democratic Partyâs (PD) presidential convention has appointed a team of auditors after a delay caused by the outrage of a noted professor, who declined to be an auditor due to outrage at the committeeâs âunprofessionalismâ
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he committee of the Democratic Party's (PD) presidential convention has appointed a team of auditors after a delay caused by the outrage of a noted professor, who declined to be an auditor due to outrage at the committee's 'unprofessionalism'.
Lt. Gen. (ret) Suaidi Marasabessy, the committee's secretary, said on Wednesday that the survey audit team consisted of five people instead of three as initially proposed by committee member Effendi Ghazali.
'We decided to add two more people as 'messengers' for us, the convention organizers,' Suaidi told The Jakarta Post, adding that the auditors had been formally appointed last week.
Two of the five auditors are academics from the University of Indonesia, sociologist Thamrin Amal Tomagola and public policy expert Andrinof Chaniago. Another is Almuktabar, a high-ranking official with the Home Ministry. The two auditors coming from within the committee are Rully Charis and Budhy Hartono.
Previously, Effendi, who is a prominent political communication expert, proposed three independent and impartial academics to serve as auditors. Besides Thamrin and Andrinof, he proposed University of Indonesia political psychologist Hamdi Muluk.
Hamdi, who has often been critical of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, said that he had decided to withdraw his nomination because he felt that the committee was not serious in hiring him.
'Initially, I felt that the convention was a good idea so I accepted the offer. But after several meetings, I had not found a clear rule of play for us,' Hamdi said last month.
'The meetings were badly organized, with committee members wantonly coming and going as they pleased despite being informed of the schedule beforehand. When I turned up for meetings on time, I often found an empty room,' he added.
The establishment of a team of auditors was Effendi's idea, as well as two other committee members, namely noted economist Christianto Wibisono and analyst Soegeng Sarjadi.
Effendi said the people who had been hired to screen the 11 participants of the convention must be closely monitored 'to counter allegations that the convention has been orchestrated to favor a particular candidate'.
Effendi expressed disappointment after learning the way the committee had treated Hamdi. 'I also reconsidered being on the committee. I am the one who nominated [Hamdi]. But then I decided to give it another shot,' he said.
Suaidi, at that time, downplayed Hamdi's withdrawal, saying that the academic was at the time merely 'a nominee.'
