Agus Triyono – A group of nongovernmental organizations has raised the red flag on 17 candidates who are in the running for positions at key electoral bodies that will oversee the 2014 elections.
The coalition of NGOs, including the Indonesian Forum for Budget Transparency (Fitra) and Indonesia Corruption Watch, said 12 of the 106 candidates who passed the administrative test for a position at the General Elections Commission (KPU) had one or more shortcomings.
Five of the 61 candidates for the Elections Supervisory Board (Bawaslu), it added, should also be ineligible. It cited the candidates' poor knowledge, lack of experience, integrity and professionalism, having ties to a political party and involvement in graft cases.
Yusfitriadi, a spokesman for the coalition, said on Wednesday that the NGOs had looked over the candidates' records and interviewed those close to them. The group, however, did not name the candidates it believed should not be considered for the positions, saying it would be unethical.
"If we identified the candidates, it would be seen as intervening and disrupting the independence of the committee that will ultimately select the candidates," said Totok Sugiarto, from the NGO Soegeng Sarjadi Syndicate.
But Arif Nur Alam, from the Indonesia Budget Center, said the identities of the "problematic" candidates would be passed on to the selection committee, and it would be up to the committee to make the names known.
"If the committee does not accede to our request, we will arrange a press conference to announce the names as part of our coalition strategy and commitment," he said.
The candidates are seeking seats at the KPU and Bawaslu for the period from 2012-17. The ad hoc selection committee will submit its recommendations to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who will forward the names to the House of Representatives for final approval.
General elections are scheduled for 2014. The KPU is responsible for the technical aspects of the elections, while the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court and the police will handle accusations of election fraud.
While elections in 2004 and 2009 were considered successes by many observers, complaints of fraud in several regions prompted concerns over their fairness. Several KPU members have been jailed for accepting bribes from candidates.
Other NGOs in the coalition include the Association for Elections and Democracy (Perludem), the Concerned Citizens for the Indonesian Legislature (Formappi) and the Center for Democracy and Human Rights Studies (Demos).