Rumah Pemilu Indonesia Election Portal
After the suitor in bribe allegation in the Elections Monitoring Committee (Panwas) new members recruitment process in North Sumatera, Pangulu Siregar, presented his case to the presiding judge from the Election Management Bodies Honour Council (DKPP), the judge then asked the defendants to express their plea.
“The suitor, Mr. Pangulu, has provided false account on what had happened and simply wrong facts. For example, I am not currently a staff of the Law Division in the Elections Monitoring Body (Bawaslu) as told by Pangalu. I am a staff of assistance for violation prosecution division. Pangulu also said that we both are well-acquainted. The fact is that we barely know each other,” said Turnip during the trial session in Jakarta (09/25).
Turnip also said that he never respond to any text messages sent by Pangulu. Pangulu, according to Turnip, had tried to make contact with him in an aggressive manner.
“He contacted me by phone several times, asking whether I can meet him. On July 7th, he said he was in Medan to take care of some family matters and asked me to meet him. I denied his request subtly,” said Turnip.
At this point Turnip provided a different account on what had happened from Pangulu’s account. Turnip said he never had any meeting with Pangulu, both on July 7th at Duren Ucok, Medan, and on July 13th at Alzairi Hotel. On July 7th and 8th, Turnip with a friend, Roy Sinaga, took a trip to Simalindo, Turnip’s hometown, to check on the renovation progress of his family’s house. Meanwhile, on July 13th, Turnip said he was staying at home.
“It simply isn’t true that we met on July 7th. Me and Roy, my friend, just got back home from Simalindo on July 8th at two o’clock in the morning. I can show you pictures of me in Simalindo that day as proofs. I never have a meeting with Pangulu and never receive any money from him,” said Turnip.
Turnip also argued that it is weird for him to, according to Pangulu’s account, ask for additional 20 million rupiahs to alter the result of the selection process. First, There is no way for Turnip to know the result of the selection process because the result is confidential and can only be accessed by the Selection Committee members. Second, “it simply doesn’t make sense to ask for another twenty million,” said Turnip.
Turnip also denied Pangulu charge that he had given Pangulu the documents contained with the questions of the test. Turnip also said that he confuse on how Pangulu could fail the test if, as Pangulu said, around 80 percent of the questions in the document are asked during the actual test.
Turnip then asked the presiding judge to be skeptical about the sound records made by Pangulu as the evidence of their meeting. According to Turnip, sound recording without visual evidence could be fabricated and cannot be used as evidence without further forensic investigation.
