Gov’t Won’t Form Fact Finding Team for Died Election Officers, Moeldoko Says

Presidential Chief of Staff Moeldoko, accompanied by Home Affairs Minister and Health Minister, delivers press conference at Bina Graha Building, Jakarta, Tuesday (14/5). (Photo: PR of KSP)

The Government will not form a fact-finding team to investigate the death of hundreds of polling stations working committee (KPPS) officers during their service for general elections last April, Presidential Chief of Staff Moeldoko has confirmed.

The decision was taken considering the victims’ cause of death can be medically proven, mostly due to heart disease or stroke.

“The cause of death is clear. They were not poisoned,” said Moeldoko at Bina Graha Building, Jakarta, Tuesday (14/5).

Moeldoko expressed regret over the accusation from a number of parties who have spread issue that the KPPS officers died of poisoning. He stated it as a false statement. “It is false news which had showed no respect for the families of the victims,” Moeldoko said during a press conference which was also attended by Minister of Home Affairs Tjahjo Kumolo, Minister of Health Nila F Moeloek, Secretary General of the General Elections Commission (KPU) Arif Rahman Hakim, and representatives of the Indonesian Doctors Association (IDI).

However, the Government through the Ministry of Health will review a number of factors, including health and workload of the KPPS officers, as well as will improve the work system of the KPU for the next election.

Moeldoko also mentioned an input from the IDI, namely to have work-hours and workload balance.

In the meantime, Secretary General of the KPU Arif Rahman Hakim said that until Tuesday (14/5) there were 485 KPPU officers who died and 10,997 officers were sick. The KPU has provided compensation of varying amounts to the families of the victims.

Arif admitted that the recruitment process of the KPPS officers was rather loose in which they were only asked to submit personal medical statement and were all uninsured.

He then asked the Government to evaluate and improve the recruitment process for next elections, especially regarding health conditions and age restrictions.

In the meantime, Minister of Health Nila F Moeloek explained that among the death toll, 39% died in hospitals, while the rest died at home (61%).

Those who died, said Nila, around 58 percent were over 60 to 70 years old with 51 percent cause of death was due to heart and cardiovascular diseases.

She added that the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Indonesia and the IDI will examine the victims who died outside the hospital through verbal autopsy. The team will also ask about the victims’ medical record from the family and people around them. “The level of accuracy can be up to 80 percent,” she said. (Public Relations of KSP / ES)

Translated by: Estu Widyamurti
Edited by: Muhardi / Yuyu Mulyani