Elections replete with flaws<\/p>\n
Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
No one in this country who believes in democracy wants the 2004
\nelections to fail, as it is the only democratic tool to elect a
\nlegitimate government that will carry out reforms and dig the
\ncountry out of its economic doldrums.<\/p>\n
But a closer look into the ongoing election preparations
\nsuggests that there are many flaws in the process, including the
\nfailure to meet election preparation schedules, raising fears
\nover the credibility of the whole exercise.<\/p>\n
The House of Representatives (DPR) already endorsed the bill
\non general elections in February and President Megawati
\nSoekarnoputri signed it into law the following month.<\/p>\n
While the law was generally hailed as setting a solid
\nfoundation for a democratic election, it was creating problems
\nfor the General Elections Commission (KPU) in preparing the 2004
\nelections.<\/p>\n
The problems revolve around the issue of legislative seat
\nallocations. The law's Article 46 (2) stipulates that each
\nelectoral district will be allocated with three to 12 seats,
\nwhile Article 48 (1b) states that the number of seats allotted
\nfor each province should not be less than the seats they got in
\nthe 1999 election. To make the confusion complete, Article 48
\n(1c) states that new provinces as the result of partitions of
\nsome provinces after the 1999 election shall be allocated three
\nseats each. Capping the perplexity is an article in the law that
\nputs the number of legislators at 550.<\/p>\n
KPU members realized the difficulty in distributing the seats
\nas soon as they were sworn in. According to KPU deputy chairman
\nRamlan Surbakti, it was impossible for them to distribute the 550
\nlegislative seats without violating any article in the election
\nlaw. But, any violation to the election may be exploited by
\npolitical parties to undermine election results.<\/p>\n
Already legislators from the country's easternmost province of
\nPapua filed a complaint with the House and KPU over the
\ncommission's decision to cut its legislative seats from 13 in
\n1999 and 10 in 2004. The three others were given to newly
\nestablished West Irian Jaya province in accordance with election
\nlaw Article 48 (1c). The decision, however, violates Article 48
\n(1b) that says that each province, including the so-called mother
\nprovince, will get the same number of legislative seats as they
\ndid in the 1999 elections.<\/p>\n
The complaint has forced the House to seriously consider
\nrevising the Election Law, with a plan to raise the number of
\nlegislative seats from 550 to 556.<\/p>\n
According to Ramlan, based on the number of people in
\nprovinces, some electoral districts must be allocated more than
\n12 seats, while some must get less seats then they got in the
\n1999 elections.<\/p>\n
He also said the KPU would be forced to breach the law because
\nof those unrealistic articles and elucidations.<\/p>\n
\"Under the state administrative law, the KPU has discretionary
\npowers to take special measures in circumstances that were not
\ntaken into account by lawmakers during the drafting of the law.
\nBesides, the KPU will also seek a legal opinion from the Supreme
\nCourt regarding this decision.\"<\/p>\n
The commission also discovered that it must allot several
\nexisting provinces less seats than they obtained in the 1999
\nelection due to the partitions of those province.<\/p>\n
Provinces falling under this category include Maluku, which
\nwas split into Maluku and North Maluku; North Sulawesi, split
\ninto North Sulawesi and Gorontalo; and Papua, divided into Papua
\nand West Irian Jaya.<\/p>\n
The KPU has also been performing poorly in conducting public
\ncampaigns about the elections. A recent voter survey endorsed by
\nthe Asia Foundation suggested that seven out of 10 voters, or 89
\npercent did not know the election month.<\/p>\n
Less than 9 percent of voters surveyed were aware that the
\nlegislative election would be held in April 2004. With regards to
\nthe Regional Representatives Council (DPD), almost two-thirds of
\nthe electorate, or 65 percent, have not heard of it or are unsure
\nif they have, while a mere 9 percent have knowledge of the DPD's
\nrole and responsibilities<\/p>\n
The only promising figure that the survey showed was that the
\npercentage of voters intending to participate in the elections
\nwas high -- 91 percent for the legislative, and 93 percent for
\nthe presidential election.<\/p>\n
Adi Abidin and Wandy N. Tuturoong of the Asia Foundation said
\nthat the findings indicated voter education campaigns must be
\nactively carried out as the quality and the quantity of their
\nparticipation would be the main indicators to measure the success
\nof the election as well as democracy.<\/p>\n
The KPU was scheduled to disseminate election information and
\neducate voters at all levels between July 1 and Dec. 31, 2003,
\naccording to the commission's instruction No. 100\/2003.<\/p>\n
Other critics, including the Center for Electoral Reforms
\n(Cetro), the Center for Regional Development Studies (PSPK) and
\nthe Center for Indonesian Law and Policy Studies (PSHK) had also
\nsaid that the performance of the KPU in preparing the 2004
\nelections was poor, due mainly to a number of extensions of the
\nelections preparation schedule.<\/p>\n
Among the extended election preparations were the national
\npopulation and voter census that was extended two weeks from
\nApril 30, the announcement of party administrative and factual
\nverification that was extended several days from the initial
\nschedules and the publication of electoral district mapping that
\nwas also extended from the initial Oct. 13 deadline.<\/p>\n
The KPU, along with the government, has said election
\npreparations were still on track.<\/p>\n
KPU chairman Nazaruddin Sjamsuddin said that some extensions
\nin the election preparations were due to inevitable external
\nfactors such as security problem in Aceh and Maluku during the
\npopulation and voter census, and plans to revise the Elections
\nLaw to increase seats in the House.<\/p>\n
He claimed the KPU had almost finished over 30 instructions
\nrequired to implement the Election Law. According to www.
\nkpu.go.id, at least 25 instructions had been made by the KPU.
\nRegarding the poor election regulations, there was nothing people
\ncould do about it except wait for the planned revision of the
\nElection Law to be realized.<\/p>\n
But for the KPU, it should take more active efforts to improve
\nthe preparations of the elections, particularly to educate the
\npublic and remain on schedule. Those efforts are necessary to
\nmake the 2004 elections a success.<\/p>\n
graphics: seats allocation for each province and electoral
\ndistricts!<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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