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House wants KPU audited as regional polls near
A few weeks before the kickoff of simultaneous elections for regional heads, the House of Representatives has called on the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) to audit the General Elections Commission (KPU), a move widely thought to be done in retaliation for the governmentâs refusal to amend the 2015 Local Elections Law and the 2011 Political Parties Law
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few weeks before the kickoff of simultaneous elections for regional heads, the House of Representatives has called on the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) to audit the General Elections Commission (KPU), a move widely thought to be done in retaliation for the government's refusal to amend the 2015 Local Elections Law and the 2011 Political Parties Law.
The amendment of the two laws would pave the way for the United Development Party (PPP) and the Golkar Party, now embroiled in infighting, to join the elections even if there was no legitimate leadership.
Gerindra Party lawmaker Ahmad Riza Patria, a deputy chairman for the House's Commission II overseeing domestic governance said the initiative was taken during a closed-door meeting earlier this week.
'During the meeting, several lawmakers proposed an idea to perform an audit on the KPU as it already completed its job of organizing last year's legislative and presidential elections and is preparing to conduct simultaneous local elections. We want to assess the KPU's performance,' Riza told The Jakarta Post on Friday.
Riza, however, denied that the request was made by members of the opposition Red-and-White Coalition in response to President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo's recent decision to reject a request from House leaders to amend two laws on local elections and political parties.
'There is nothing out of the ordinary with this audit request. All state institutions are subject to regularly being audited by the BPK,' he said.
Golkar and the PPP could fail to nominate their candidates for local elections if competing factions within the parties fail to secure a final and binding court ruling by the registration period, July 26-28, set by the KPU.
This possibility has become more likely now that the President has rejected the House's plan to amend the laws, following his meeting with the House leadership on Monday.
On Thursday, Commission II chairman and Golkar lawmaker Rambe Kamarul Zaman said the audit request was necessary to respond to the Home Ministry's report on the inflated budget plan for organizing local elections.
'The government initially earmarked Rp 4 trillion [US$303.9 million] for the local elections, but it recently soared to nearly Rp 7 trillion. We will propose that the BPK perform an audit. The Rp 3 trillion [margin] is not a small amount,' he said.
On its website, the KPU reported that it spent Rp 10.1 trillion to organize the 2014 legislative and presidential elections, with a large proportion of the budget going to the procurement and distribution of election logistics and incentives for election organizers.
KPU commissioner Ferry Kurnia Rizkiyansyah said the institution did not object to the proposed audit.
'We are always open to being audited. We have regularly submitted our financial reports to the BPK and posted them on our website,' he said.
Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) lawmaker Adian Napitupulu, whose party leads the ruling Great Indonesia Coalition, meanwhile, questioned the move of his fellow lawmakers.
'Even without the House request, the BPK will perform an annual audit anyway. There is actually no urgent reason for asking the BPK to perform an audit on the KPU outside of its regular schedule,' he said.
