Jakarta – The strategic Development and Policy Research Center (Puskaptis) has refused to attend an audit by the Association of Indonesian Public Opinion Surveys Firms (Persepi).

Persepi ethics council member Hamdi Muluk said that the refusal was conveyed directly by Puskaptis executive director Husein Yazid through an SMS message.

“He [Yazid] said that the audit should only be conducted after the KPU [General Elections Commission] announces the official [election] count results on July 22. He was of the view that it couldn’t be done before the announcement”, said Muluk when contacted on the evening of Tuesday July 15.

Muluk said he regretted Puskaptis’ position because, he said, it was quite difficult to contact the quick count survey institution that declared a victory for the Prabowo Subianto-Hatta Rajasa presidential ticket because the organisation does not have an office.

In the end, Muluk said he decided to invite Puskaptis through an SMS message sent to Yazid. “Two days ago I sent him an SMS. Admittedly the impression was that it was informal but what else could I do”, said Muluk. Not to mention, he continued, that Yazid had earlier issued a statement to the media saying that his institution was ready to be audited.

During a discussion in Jakarta on Saturday last week, Yazid stated that an audit would not be a problem. He in fact challenged other institutions to close down if it was proven that their quick count results were misleading.

“It’s very unfortunate, I [can only] conclude from his SMS that they don’t want to come. They refused to attend”, concluded Muluk.

Persepi is carrying out an audit of the survey institutions under its membership. The audit is being carried out because of the differing quick count results that have triggered a polemic.

Aside from Puskaptis, Persepi is also investigating other survey institutions namely the Strategic and International Studies-Cyrus Network (CSIS-Cyrus), the Indonesian Survey Circle (LSI), the Sinful Mugnai Research Centre (SMRC), Indikator Politic (Political Indicator), Poltracking and the Indonesian Votes Network (JOSÉ).

[Translated by James Balowski for the Indoleft News Service.]

Source: http://indonesiasatu.kompas.com/read/2014/07/15/20051451/Persepi.Puskaptis.Menolak.Diaudit