Campaign kicks off to ditch unscrupulous politicians<\/p>\n
Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Government critics, students, and non-governmental organization
\nactivists on Tuesday launched a nationwide drive aimed at urging
\nthe people not to elect \"dirty rotten politicians\" in the 2004
\nelections.<\/p>\n
The campaign, according to the proponents, was part of their
\nefforts to free the country from corrupt state officials.<\/p>\n
They, however, were still undecided on whether they would
\npublish the list of unscrupulous politicians or simply provide
\nthe people with some indicators.<\/p>\n
The movement came just one day after the Indonesian Survey
\nInstitute (LSI) announced its latest finding that 68 percent or
\n1,469 of 2,160 respondents from 372 villages and cities wanted
\neconomic recovery and job opportunities as well as cheap basic
\ncommodities to be the main priorities after the elections.<\/p>\n
Indonesia will hold the legislative election on April 5 and
\nthe presidential election on July 5. Twenty-four parties have
\nbeen declared eligible for the elections.<\/p>\n
Economist Faisal Basri said the movement had prepared lawyers
\nin anticipation of defamation suits filed by politicians.<\/p>\n
\"The most difficult thing is to identify the bad politicians
\nfrom the good ones,\" he said at a press briefing here on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Also at the press briefing were political analyst J. Kristiadi
\nfrom the Centre of Strategic and International Studies (CSIS),
\nrights activist Asmara Nababan, secretary of Transparency
\nInternational (TI) Indonesia Emmy Hafild, and former legislator
\nIndira Damayanti Soegondo.<\/p>\n
The group would use four crucial issues as a guide to
\ndifferentiate bad politicians from good ones. The four issues are
\ncorruption, environmental destruction, human rights abuses, and
\ndomestic violence\/extramarital affairs.<\/p>\n
Human rights activist Munir, who also joined the campaign,
\nsaid he would identify the eligibility of politicians based on
\ntheir human rights track records.<\/p>\n
\"I think all current legislators are ineligible for reelection
\nbecause they refuse to declare the Trisakti incident as a case of
\ngross human rights abuses,\" he said, referring to the killing of
\nfour Trisakti students that triggered massive riots across the
\ncountry in 1998.<\/p>\n
Separately, Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) coordinator
\nTeten Masduki acknowledged that fellow activists were still
\ndebating on whether they would publish a list of unscrupulous
\npoliticians or only provide the people with criterion for the
\neligibility of politicians.<\/p>\n
\"There is no decision yet. We hope this campaign will become a
\nwarning for political parties not to take the nomination of their
\ncadres lightly,\" he told The Jakarta Post by phone from Denpasar,
\nBali, where he was to launch the same campaign.<\/p>\n
The activists are to jointly declare the campaign on Dec. 29
\nin several cities nationwide.<\/p>\n
Director of the Center for Electoral Reform (CETRO) Smita
\nNotosusanto, meanwhile, doubted the movement would be effective.<\/p>\n
Law No. 12\/2003 on elections, she said, did not instruct the
\nGeneral Elections Commission (KPU) to issue a temporary list of
\nlegislative candidates for people's scrutiny.<\/p>\n
\"This means there is no opportunity to scrutinize the
\nlegislative candidates. I am afraid this movement will not be
\neffective,\" she said.<\/p>\n
Smita, however, urged political parties to publish their
\ntemporary lists of legislative candidates for public scrutiny.<\/p>\n
Political parties have to submit their legislative candidates
\nto the KPU by Dec. 29 at the latest.<\/p>\n
Faisal emphasized that the campaign would be a difficult
\nprocess. \"If the campaign fails, I am afraid we will have a
\npresident whose backers are thugs. We don't want that to happen,
\ndo we?\" he said.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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