Fresh complaints raised against election campaign guidelines<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia's two minority parties raised fresh
\ncomplaints yesterday over what they called restrictive election
\ncampaign guidelines and sought a meeting with the government to
\ndiscuss the problems.<\/p>\n
The United Development Party (PPP) deputy chairman Zarkasih
\nNur said yesterday the campaign rules do not encourage political
\nparties to develop maturity and self-reliance.<\/p>\n
"We have held five general elections under the New Order
\nadministration, but unfortunately the next election will not give
\npolitical parties wider room to express their political
\nconcepts," Zarkasih said.<\/p>\n
PPP, the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) and the dominant
\npolitical group Golkar will contest the May 29 general election,
\nvying for 425 of the 500 seats at the House of Representatives.
\nThe remaining 75 seats are reserved for the Armed Forces whose
\nmembers do not vote.<\/p>\n
During a leadership board meeting led by chairman Ismail Hasan
\nMetareum Saturday, PPP secretary-general Tosari Widjaja said the
\ngeneral election would suffer a setback due to its restrictive
\nrules.<\/p>\n
Tosari was commenting on the last two ministerial decrees on
\nelection campaign guidelines issued by the Minister of Home
\nAffairs Moch. Yogie S. M. and Minister of Information Harmoko.<\/p>\n
Among the clauses of the decrees under fire were the
\nauthorization of the government to screen campaign speeches, to
\npick moderators for public debates broadcast by state-owned
\ntelevision station TVRI and radio RRI, and the complicated
\nprocedures to gain police approval to hold rallies.<\/p>\n
Tosari said organizers of a rally must submit lists of
\nattendants and their vehicles to the police seven days before the
\nrally.<\/p>\n
It was Tosari's second criticism, following his statement
\nearlier this year suggesting PPP withdraw from the election
\ncampaign. He said the party lacked funds and time to meet the
\nzoning scheme imposed on the election campaign.<\/p>\n
Golkar, however, expressed support yesterday for the election
\ncampaign guidelines. Antara quoted Golkar secretary-general Ari
\nMardjono as saying here yesterday that there's nothing wrong with
\nthe new rules.<\/p>\n
In fact, Ari said, the new rules would help ensure a quality
\ngeneral election.<\/p>\n
Zarkasih, who also attended Saturday's meeting, said the
\nelection campaign would lose its sparkle due to the strict rules.
\n"The general election, which has been dubbed a fiesta of
\ndemocracy, requires only a set of soft regulations, not strict
\nones," he said.<\/p>\n
PPP has listed its complaints to be submitted to the
\ngovernment soon.<\/p>\n
"We do not expect the government to change the rules, but at
\nleast they and the public know there are complaints about the
\nregulations," Zarkasih said.<\/p>\n
He denied speculations that PPP would boycott the election
\ncampaign only because of unfavorable regulations. "There's no
\nreason for withdrawal. No matter how tough the rules, we will use
\nour democratic rights," he said.<\/p>\n
PDI's deputy chairman Budi Hardjono echoed PPP's objection of
\nthe election campaign guidelines, saying the rules would reduce
\nPDI's chances to make use of all opportunities during the
\ncampaign period.<\/p>\n
"We can't expect too much from the campaign period because of
\nour limited time (for preparation), funds and logistics," Budi
\nsaid yesterday.<\/p>\n
Budi said such limitations would reduce PDI's allotted
\ncampaign time from 27 days to only nine days and prevent the
\nparty from holding any national rallies.<\/p>\n
"The rules show that the government has yet to omit its
\ndistrust of political parties, although they have all recognized
\nthe state ideology Pancasila," Budi said.<\/p>\n
"The government knows well the persons who will compete in the
\nbattlefield. They won't do anything to harm their own image or
\nthe respective party's," he added.<\/p>\n
Budi said the discouraging campaign rules would be among the
\nmain topics of discussion during the party's two-day leadership
\nmeeting in Kopo, Bogor, West Java, starting today.<\/p>\n
"We plan to announce a political statement, including our
\nobjections to campaign guidelines," Budi said, adding the party
\nwould formally make the government aware of the complaints.<\/p>\n
"If possible, we will ask for a meeting with the government to
\ndiscuss the matters," he said. (amd)<\/p>",
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