Defense Witness Talks about Belitung Election at Ahok`s Trial

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Juhri, a civil servant in Belitung District, Bangka Belitung Province, gives his testimony in the 14th session of blasphemy trial against Jakarta gubernatorial candidate Basuki Tjahaja Purnama alias Ahok. He talks about Belitung election.

The witness served as a member of the election supervisory committee (panwaslu) in 2007 Bangka Belitung gubernatorial election.

“There were five candidate pairs. Pak Basuki was [candidate] number three. The winner was [candidate] number four. Pak Basuki stood in the second place, in the first place was Eko Maulana Ali, Syamsudin Basari pair,” Juhri said at the Agriculture Ministry auditorium in Ragunan, South Jakarta, on Tuesday, March 14, 2017.

During his tenure as panwaslu member, Juhri received reports on irregularities in 2007 Bangka Belitung election. Ahok-Eko Cahyono ticket reported two issues, namely money politics and voter fraud.

Read: Five Witnesses to Testify at Ahok`s Blasphemy Trial Today

Juhri said that Ahok campaign team reported that ballots were not distributed to areas where voters might vote for candidate number three. Juhri added that he had also received information about a black campaign.

“Another incident was black campaign; it was not reported but only informed. It took the form of flyers, telling [voters] to vote for leaders who shared the same religious belief,” he said. However, Juhri said that he did not know who distributed the flyers. He alleged that the flyers were made by Ahok’s political opponents.

Juhri said that the flyers were found at mosques during the campaign period.

“We seized the flyers. During the campaign lull period, we also found them on streets and residential houses. We seized and destroyed them. Some were taken to provincial election supervisory committee,” he said.

LARISSA HUDA