Gang of strange attackers hit Monopoly Watch office<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
A group calling itself the election support committee attacked on
\nThursday the office of Monopoly Watch following the latter's
\ncriticism of the General Elections Commission (KPU) for its
\nprocurement tender process.<\/p>\n
A press release from Monopoly Watch said the group, consisting
\nof between 10 to 15 people, came to its office twice on Thursday
\nto look for chairman Samuel Nitisaputra.<\/p>\n
The group demanded that the non-governmental organization
\n(NGO) retract its criticism of the tender process, and quit
\ncommenting on election preparations.<\/p>\n
When the group came earlier in the day, it insisted upon
\nentering the NGO's office despite the fact that Samuel was not
\nin.<\/p>\n
Failing to find Samuel, members were angered so they attempted
\nto smash up windows.<\/p>\n
At around 4 p.m., the small gang returned, but this time they
\nhurled an array of stones at Monopoly Watch's office and managed
\nto break some windows.<\/p>\n
Then they hightailed it away in public buses after their
\nammunition of stones began to wane, but not before they
\nthreatened to return again.<\/p>\n
The NGO, which is committed to fighting certain forms of
\ncorruption and collusion in the interests of consumers, has been
\ncalling on the KPU to be open and honest in holding its tender
\nfor the provision of ballot boxes, following the participation of
\nthe Maspion Group that controls 70 percent of the aluminum
\nproduction market in the country.<\/p>\n
In a separate development, the KPU decided on Thursday to
\nallow political parties to appoint substitutes of recalled
\nlegislators until next year as stated by law No. 4\/1999 on the
\ncomposition of legislative bodies.<\/p>\n
KPU deputy chairman Ramlan Surbakti said that under the new
\nlaw, recalled legislators were supposed to be replaced by the
\nparty's candidates that had the next ranking below in terms of
\nvotes garnered and must, of course, be from the same electoral
\ndistrict.<\/p>\n
But this article could not be implemented as seats in the
\nHouse of Representatives were occupied by legislators appointed
\nby their political parties regardless of the number of votes they
\ngot in 1999 election.<\/p>\n
Thus, KPU would leave the matter to political parties until
\nnext year when people will select new legislators through the
\nelection, he said.<\/p>\n
\"The party will just have to appoint the substitutes from the
\nsame electoral districts with the recalled legislators. The party
\nwill then report this recall to the House, and the House will
\nhand in the name of substitute to us. We will then verify them
\nand return it to the House. At the end, the House will give its
\nreport to the President for approval,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The Minister of Home Affairs Hari Sabarno and governors will
\nbecome the final destination to sign the substitutes of recalled
\nlegislators at the province, regency or municipality levels
\nrespectively.<\/p>\n
This legislator recall procedure will be adopted in the
\ncommission's instruction that would be signed soon, according to
\nHari.<\/p>\n
This planned instruction will surely pave the way for a number
\nof parties to drop legislators that they do not like any longer.<\/p>\n
Besides the recall procedures, Ramlan also said the KPU had
\ndropped its plan to propose a revision to the 550 House seats
\narticle of law No. 12\/2003 on general elections.<\/p>\n
\"The election law amendment is out of question now. We think
\nthe House will have no more time to talk about that revision. We
\nwill decide the seat allocation with our own regulation,\" he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Ramlan had earlier said that Maluku would be allotted four
\nseats in the 2004 House instead of the initial three seats.<\/p>\n
One seat would be taken from West Nusa Tenggara (NTB), thus
\nNTB would get 10 seats instead of 11, he added.<\/p>\n
However, 10 seats for NTB in next year's election was still an
\nincrease from nine seats in the 1999 election, Ramlan said.<\/p>",
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