FAILED GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE WANTS HIS MONEY BACK

JakartaFailed gubernatorial candidate Mahfudz Djaelani revealed on Friday that hehad given Rp 200 million to 40 city councillors as part of a downpayment fora promised Rp 2 billion if they elected him as the next governor of Jakarta.Mahfudz said the payoff was part of a negotiated deal with the 40councillors to elect him as the Jakarta governor for the 2002-2007 termduring the election on Wednesday."As of 3 p.m. on election day, I was still optimistic that I would beelected as the governor. But the fact was that my political rival (GovernorSutiyoso) could pay them more than me," Mahfudz stated during a conferencecall.Mahfudz, a businessman who was nominated by the Unity Party -- a splinterparty formerly connected to the United Development Party (PPP) and holds oneseat in the council -- was among seven candidates contesting the election onWednesday. He received support from the Assembly of Betawi People (Bamus),which wanted the Jakarta governor to be Betawi, or native of Jakarta.Mahfudz, who was paired with vice gubernatorial candidate Doli DiaparySiregar, currently the only councillor from the Unity Party, only securedthree votes from the total of 84 councillors who took part.Incumbent Governor Sutiyoso, who won the election, collected 47 votes. Othercandidates who took part in the election were Edy Waluyo, Tarmidi Suhardjo,Marzuki Usman, Ahmad Heriyawan and Endang Darmawan.Mahfudz said the 40 councillors who received the payoffs included somemembers of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), theNational Mandate Party (PAN), the Crescent and Star Party (PBB) and theJustice and Unity Party (PKP)."I deplore those councillors who made statements on television, saying thatthere was no money politics involved. They are liars!" exclaimed Mahfudz.He said that he would hold a press conference on Monday to announce thenames of the councillors who took his money, if they refused to return it."As a businessman, I always account for all money spent. If they don'treturn my money I will publicize their names," he said.Previously, a list of 35 councillors who were accused of involvement invote-buying scams, was circulated to the press during the election process.A number of councillors denied that they had received money from Sutiyoso.Based on the election regulations, the public, through non-governmentalorganizations (NGOs), still has a three-day period in which the public canfile a formal complaint over any irregularities.On Friday, two days after the election, the Election Committee had notreceived any complaints about irregularities from the public-appointed NGOs.One complaint, however, came from a former candidate, Suta Widhya, who didnot make the final candidate list. He questioned the coded marks made on theballot papers of Sutiyoso-Fauzi Bowo. Many analysts earlier criticized thisvoting method as it could be manipulated using coded marks for each faction,thereby facilitating payoffs to each faction.Suta's complaint was received by deputy chairman of the Election CommitteeIbnu Soemantri. But Ibnu said that the complaint could not be followed up bythe committee, stressing that the election procedure only had rulespertaining to clear cases of bribery.Ibnu admitted that there were certain marks on the ballot papers ofSutiyoso-Fauzi Bowo, but it did not violate any agreement between thefactions about how to write the names of candidates."If they wanted to raise the issue, it should have been while the ballotswere being counted, not now," said Ibnu, a councillor from theMilitary-Police faction.Soemantri said that the City Council was still waiting for any publiccomplaints over the result of the gubernatorial election, the period ofwhich would end on Monday. Dikutip dari Harian THE JAKARTA POST.