Election committees should hold talks: Amien<\/p>\n
YOGYAKARTA (JP): A respected political scientist calls on the
\ntwo election monitoring committees, one official and the other
\nindependent, to sit together and hold dialog.<\/p>\n
Amien Rais, a lecturer at the Gadjah Mada University's School
\nof Social and Political Sciences, told the press here yesterday
\nthat each of the two bodies could benefit from the other. Dialog
\ncould start if neither one deems itself as the most \"democratic\"
\ninstitution, he said here yesterday.<\/p>\n
The Independent Election Monitoring Committee (KIPP) could
\nreally become a partner for and give inputs to the official
\nElection Supervision Committee, Amien said.<\/p>\n
Amien, however, doubted that the independent poll watchdog,
\nestablished last month by a number of government critics, could
\nreally be involved in the supervision of the various stages of
\nthe 1997 general elections as it planned to do.<\/p>\n
\"I don't think it's going to be that easy for KIPP to
\nestablish (branches to directly monitor vote casting) in the
\npolling booths,\" Amien said.<\/p>\n
Mulyana W. Kusumah, the secretary general of the independent
\npoll watchdog, said the body does not aim at creating \"political
\nimpacts\".<\/p>\n
\"It's an experiment at democratization,\" he told The Jakarta
\nPost here yesterday.<\/p>\n
Prominent activists set up the independent election watchdog
\nto monitor the polls for 425 seats in the 500-seat House of
\nRepresentatives. The remaining 75 seats in the legislative body
\nare allocated for the representatives of the military.<\/p>\n
Some 120 million of Indonesia's estimated 193 million people
\nare entitled to vote in the election next year.<\/p>\n
The independent poll watchdog is chaired by Goenawan Mohamad,
\nformer editor of the banned Tempo news magazine. Its membership
\nis made up of noted political observers, human rights campaigners
\nand government critics including Sri Bintang Pamungkas, Arbi
\nSanit and Luhut Pangaribuan.<\/p>\n
The official Election Supervision Committee is chaired by
\nAttorney General Singgih.<\/p>\n
Deputy chairman of the Central Java office of the official
\npoll body Djuhad Mahya challenged the new organization to go
\nbeyond rhetorics.<\/p>\n
\"Don't just become a paper tiger. The independent committee
\nshould work hard, especially because here Governor Soewardi has
\nsaid he welcomed the committee,\" Djuhad said.<\/p>\n
\"I'd like to wait and see whether KIPP could really prove its
\nmettle,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Not all response was as welcoming, however. In Kupang, East
\nNusa Tenggara, Col. Rachman Idin, an official at the local office
\nof the Ministry of Home Affairs, refused to recognize the
\nindependent body.<\/p>\n
\"It's controversial. Which is why I decide to play by the
\nrules, that any organization has to register to the government.
\nOtherwise, it's non-existent,\" he was quoted by Antara as saying.<\/p>\n
In another part of his explanation to the press, Rachman said
\nthe provincial government may allow 13,336 former communists
\nthere to vote.<\/p>\n
\"We are considering to allow them to take part in the coming
\nelections because they have been found by the government to have
\nbehaved well,\" said Rachman who is the head of the ministry's
\nsocio-political directorate in East Nusa Tenggara.<\/p>\n
But he also said that 272 other former members of the now-
\ndefunct Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI) in the province would
\nnot be allowed to vote. He gave no reason for their continued
\nexclusion.<\/p>\n
The communist party launched a bloody coup attempt in 1965.
\nCivilian and military officials are still frequently warning the
\npublic of the communism latent threat. (har\/swe)<\/p>",
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