TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Muhammad Suherman, a witness in a West Kotawaringin regent election dispute case trialed at the constitutional court in 2010 revealed Bambang Widjojano’s when he handled the case. He said that he was surprised when Bambang was charged for instructing witnesses to give a false testimony.
According to Suherman, Bambang, who was the legal counsel for regent candidate pair Ujang Iskandar-Bambang Purwanto, asked witnesses not to lie.
“Mr. BW instructed me to tell what I felt, listened and saw because I was under oath,” Suherman said on Saturday, January 24, 2015.
Back in 2010, Suherman was a witness coordinator for Ujang Iskandar-Bambang Purwanto from Pangkalan Banteng District. During the election, Ujang’s camp gained 55,000 votes, less than those gained by Sugianto-Sabran-Eko Soemarno with 67,000 votes.
Ujang then filed a lawsuit against Sugianto’s victory with the Constitutional Court and presented eight witnesses at the trial, namely Ratna Mutiara, Marsianto, Aceng, Sabri, Jariya, Dewi Musripan, and Sunardi.
Suherman and other witnesses told the court that they had witnessed money politic conducted by Sugianto’s camp. One of the witnesses, Ratna Mutiara, was later reported by Sugianto for giving a false testimony. Ratna was then sentenced five years in prison by the Central Jakarta District Court.
West Kotawaringin Regent Ujang Iskandar said that Ratna’s case was not related to the election dispute. During the trial at the Constitutional Court, Ratna mentioned that one of the village heads received something from Sugianto. However, the fact showed that the village head did not receive anything from Sugianto and Ratna was charged for giving a false testimony, Ujang said on Friday.
Suherman said that he was not defending Bambang.
“I’m not defending Bambang. I’m just telling the truth about what happened at the court,” he said.
LINDA TRIANITA | MUHAMMAD MUHYIDIN
