Jakarta – Legislators have expressed concern the State Intelligence Agency (BIN) could be misused during the election as the state body is under the command of the President who is campaigning for re-election.
"We questioned the agency about potential threats to its neutrality and independence during the election in a closed-door hearing this morning, but BIN officials gave us no satisfactory answers," Andreas Pareira, a legislator from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) told The Jakarta Post on Monday.
"It is very hard to expect the agency to be neutral and independent when its top leaders answer to the President," he added.
A legislator from commission I at the House of Representatives, Marzuki Darusman from the Golkar Party, said it was essential for the agency to be free from political interests during the election.
"The agency's questionable neutrality poses a problem because it is obliged to provide information to the General Elections Commission [KPU]. We are afraid the information will come directly from the government," Marzuki said.
Deputy chairman of the KPU, Boradi, said the commission had included BIN members in security measures overseeing the security of ballot distribution and printing, as well as security on election day.
"There will be one police officer from the national police standing by 24 hours a day. The BIN will dispatch agents to watch over the [ballot distribution] process, while two members from the commission are currently placed at companies printing ballot papers," he said.
Basumi, the project manager of ballot printing at PT Ganeca Exact, said there were two BIN agents monitoring his factory.
"One officer is from the National Police, several are from the local police, two are BIN agents and there is one supervisor from the KPU. They are all monitoring the printing process," he said.
A political analyst from the University of Indonesia, Maswadi Rauf, said the agency's ability to provide intelligence made it an attractive instrument to be exploited by presidential candidates.
"If any candidate exploited the agency for his or her own benefit, it would be regarded as corruption," he said. "Therefore, sufficient supervision from the House, the media and the people, is key to ensuring the agency's neutrality in the election," he added.
Golkar's presidential candidate, Jusuf Kalla, once accused the inner intelligence circle of incumbent President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, of masterminding internal rifts in his party through intelligence-style operations. Presidential spokesman Andi Mallarangeng has repeatedly denied these allegations.
In 2005, SBY, who spent most of his military career in territorial ranks, began recruiting retired military peers with intelligence backgrounds to design a strategy to win the 2009 presidential election.
BIN chief, Syamsir Siregar, who was a former subordinate of Yudhoyono, said the agency's neutral stance in the election was firm and would not benefit a certain candidate.
"We work for the government and the state, not for a particular candidate," Syamsir told reporters. Syamsir also said the agency would focus on maintaining peace during the election, especially in conflict-prone regions. (hdt/fmb)