The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) denied on Thursday allegations that it had done anything wrong in endorsing Harun Masiku as a legislative member, despite the candidate having been named a suspect in a bribery case.

The party's legal team met with the General Elections Commission (KPU) to clarify that it had never submitted a request to replace Riezky Aprilia, another PDI-P candidate who was expected to fill the seat in the South Sumatra I electoral district, with Harun.

Instead, it had requested that the poll body accept "endorsement" of Harun based on a Supreme Court ruling that stipulates that in the event of the death of a legislative candidate, a political party has the right to recommend a new candidate.

"What was stated by the PDI-P through the letters [to the KPU] is in accordance with the legal provisions. We requested that the KPU endorse the elected candidate [Harun], not as a replacement,” the party’s legal team official Teguh Samudra said in a press conference after the meeting.

The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has accused Harun, who is currently at large, of giving a bribe of Rp 900 million (US$65,568) to KPU commissioner Wahyu Setiawan to influence the poll body's decision about the winner of the South Sumatra I electoral district.

The bribes were allegedly given after the poll body refused to name Harun, instead of Riezky, after correspondence following the court ruling.

Riezky, the runner-up, became the winner in the electoral district after Nazarudin Kiemas, brother of the late husband of PDI-P chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri, died one month before the election day last year.

Megawati and party secretary-general Hasto Kristiyanto challenged in July the KPU’s decision to grant the seat to Riezky, despite the fact that Article 426 of Law No. 7/2017 on elections mandates that in the event of death, a legislative seat goes to the candidate who gained the next most votes in an electoral district.

According to KPU chairman Arief Budiman, the PDI-P sent three letters to the KPU after Riezky’s appointment.

The first letter to the KPU, dated Aug. 5, 2019, was signed by Hasto and party executive Bambang DH. The second letter, dated Sept. 27, 2019, was signed by Hasto and the party's then-legal, human rights and legislative affairs chairman Yasonna Laoly. The third letter, dated Dec. 18, was signed by Hasto and Megawati.

Hasto on Wednesday claimed that the “replacement” and “endorsement” of an elected candidate were different, saying that the letters submitted by the party to the KPU were based on the court ruling in favor of the PDI-P in July, handing down the decision for the appointment to the party.

“The decision on the deceased’s seat belongs to the party [according to the ruling]. We have selected the candidate: Harun Masiku. However, the KPU rejected that,” Hasto said in a written statement.

Earlier, he said the party had insisted on Harun because he was "a clean figure".

KPU chairman Arief Budiman, who was the first to reveal the tug of war between the party and the poll body over the legislative seat, refused to comment on the party's statement at Thursday's press conference.

"We have accepted a request for a meeting from the PDI-P legal team and discussed several things with the party. Everything that we have discussed is elaborated by the legal team," he said.

Following the visit to the KPU, the PDI-P legal team had a meeting with KPK supervisory board member Albertina Ho at the commission’s office in South Jakarta.

The party’s legal team head I Wayan Sudirta said it reported the search attempt by KPK officials at the PDI-P headquarters on Jan. 9.

“Three cars arrived at the PDI-P headquarters and several people who claimed to be KPK officials tried to search the building. They said they had a search warrant, but when the party officials demanded to see the document they only waved it around,” he said.

Wayan added that the document could not be a search warrant as there were no suspects yet at the time, and therefore the investigators could not conduct searches.

He also said there were conflicting statements between the KPK official at the scene and the commission's spokesperson.

“The KPK spokesperson denied that it was a search warrant. How could the officials come to the headquarters and claim that they have a warrant?” Wayan added.

Both Teguh and Wayan also denied any knowledge of Harun’s whereabouts, and said the party had taken necessary action against him.

“We don’t know where he is, we only know the statement of the immigration office that says he’s still in Singapore,” said Teguh.

They also denied any knowledge regarding a report by Tempo daily that said Harun had returned to Jakarta.

“I just heard about it now. Where’s the data?” Wayan told The Jakarta Post. (mpr)

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