Indonesia's poll watchdog wants re-election for postal voters in KL

Indonesia's central Election Monitoring Body (Bawaslu) has recommended that the 319,293 Indonesian postal voters registered at the Malaysian embassy in Kuala Lumpur re-cast their votes for the Indonesian elections.

This follows the recent discovery of more than 50,000 marked ballot papers at two locations in Kajang and Bangi last week.

Bawaslu chief commissioner Abhan said their recommendation to Indonesia's Election Commission was made after evidence was found that the republic's overseas election committee had not carried out its duties in a professional manner.

"We made this recommendation for a re-election involving the postal voters," Abhan told a press conference at Bawaslu's headquarters in Jakarta today.

"Given that all votes received from overseas were supposed to be counted tomorrow, we also recommended that the postal votes from Kuala Lumpur not be counted," he said.

Abhan also confirmed that Indonesian authorities have so far not been given access to verify the marked ballot papers seized from the two locations in Malaysia.

Malaysian Inspector-General of Police Mohamad Fuzi Harun in a statement on Sunday said police were assisting their Indonesian counterparts following two police reports lodged over the incident.

Fuzi said since there was no breach of Malaysian law, his officers had reached out to Indonesian authorities to determine the next course of action.

Beyond a re-election, Abhan said Bawaslu also recommended for a replacement of the two officers in charge of the Indonesian elections in Kuala Lumpur, including its deputy ambassador to Malaysia, Krishna KU Hannan.

As the body in charge of monitoring election offences throughout the campaign period up to polling day, Abhan also revealed its other findings including alleged attempts to bribe voters with goods and cash.

Indonesians overseas had cast their votes for the republic's presidential and legislative elections last Sunday, ahead of polling day nationwide tomorrow.

In total, some 1.5 million Indonesians registered to vote in Malaysia through postal ballots at five locations - Johor Baru, Pulau Pinang, Kuching, Tawau and Kota Kinabalu. - Mkini