August 12, 2014 edition
In challenging Joko Widodo's victory in the presidential election, Prabowo Subianto has spoken much about a stain remover called Bayclin. The chemical, Prabowo contends, was used in East and Central Java to remove the indelible ink that stains one's fingers after voting. The charge is that many people voted more than once. "The ink disappears within seconds," Habiburokhman, one of Prabowo's lawyers, said last week.
Prabowo believes the additional special voter list was inflated to enable ballot stuffing at several polling stations. He alleged that East Java saw 200,000 fake votes. Joko got 1.44 million more votes than Prabowo in that province.
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August 5, 2014 edition
It took some time to locate the office of the Islamic Food and Nutrition Council of America (IFANCA) in a small town just outside of Chicago, Illinois. Last March, Tempo was able to meet with the Council's president, Muhammad Chaudry, 70, who is well known among businesses dealing in halal (allowed) products. In Indonesia, he is also known for inviting officials of the Indonesian Ulama Council (MUI) to attend conference he organizes.
Tempo's reason for interviewing Pakistan-born Chaudry was to query him on reports which cite him as bribing the MUI, as a commission for officially recognizing IFANCA as a halal certificate provider for food and drinks produced in the US. Excerpts of the interview:
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January 1, 1970 edition
Prabowo Subianto's plan of attack against the General Elections Commission's (KPU) announcement that he had lost the race for president was formulated in the lounge of Akbar Tandjung's home in Kebayoran Baru, South Jakarta. Prabowo's brother, Hashim Djojohadikusumo, and his campaign manager, Mahfud Md, had planned to attend the meeting, which went on until the wee hours of Tuesday morning last week. "Pak Mahfud only arrived at midnight; Pak Hashim didn't attend," Akbar told Tempo on Wednesday evening last week.
These three key figures of the Prabowo Subianto-Hatta Rajasa campaign team were staring defeat in the face. Although the official results would only be announced the next day, they had estimated that the Prabowo votes lagged far behind those of Joko Widodo and his running mate, Jusuf Kalla. The meeting was to discuss other strategies to find a way round the loss.
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January 1, 1970 edition
KHAIRUL Hamzah hastened toward Gombak, Selangor, Malaysia, as soon as he received the call about suspected ballot rigging in that area on voting day last July 5. Upon arrival on the site 15 km north of Kuala Lumpur, the member of Kuala Lumpur's Overseas General Election Supervisory Committee (PPLN) found a heap of ballot papers in the mail box used as address by the residents of seven houses in the aforementioned neighborhood.
The ballot papers were fewer than 50 in number, as in accordance with the rule that ballot papers sent by mail should be less than 50 in number. If they exceeded the number, the drop box should be used. These ballot papers were still intact with no sign of punching. "We thought it was not a form of rigging because they were unpunched," said Khairul during the recapitulation of oversea votes at the General Election Commission (KPU), Central Jakarta, on Thursday last week.
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July 15, 2014 edition
Hundreds of people formed a long line at Hong Kong's Victoria Park, a favorite haunt of migrant workers. It was Sunday two weeks ago, and Indonesian nationals were arriving at the polling station set up there to cast their ballots.
Instead of receding, the line got longer as the day wore on. Seeing that, Syaiful Anas, a poll observer from the Migrant Care organization, took the initiative to suggest the Overseas Election Committee for Hong Kong open an alternative access to the station. "After negotiations, the committee availed another access on the right side of the main entrance," Syaiful recalled last week.
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January 1, 1970 edition
July 1, 2014 edition