Judicial review on election law demanded<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Former members of the 1999 General Elections
\nCommission (KPU) filed a petition on Monday with the Supreme
\nCourt for a judicial review into a government regulation in lieu
\nof the law on general election, challenging its validity.<\/p>\n
Bennie Akbar Fatah, representing 24 former KPU members who
\nfiled the petition, said should the Supreme Court find
\nirregularities in the issuance of the government regulation in
\nlieu of the Law No. 33\/1999, the current membership of the House
\nof Representatives (DPR) and the People's Consultative Assembly
\n(MPR) would automatically be invalid.<\/p>\n
\"The regulation was issued without securing the approval of
\ntwo thirds of KPU members, as stipulated in Article 84 in Law No.
\n3\/1999 that the government is obliged to consider the input from
\nKPU members.<\/p>\n
\"If the Supreme Court declares the regulation invalid, the
\nPresidential Decree No. 92\/1999 which validated the result of the
\n1999 election will be invalid, simultaneously leaving the
\nlegislature membership illegitimate,\" the lawyer who is also
\nchairman of the National Labor Party (PBN) told reporters.<\/p>\n
In the meeting with Supreme Court deputy chief justice Taufiq,
\nthe group handed copies of a statement from chairpersons of 24
\npolitical parties seeking the judicial review.<\/p>\n
Bennie said then justice minister Muladi had secretly invited
\nthree KPU members, namely chairmen Adnan Buyung Nasution, Oka
\nMahendra and Jacob Tobing, to draft the regulation which was
\nissued in May 1999.<\/p>\n
The regulation stipulates that KPU has the final say on the
\nelection results.<\/p>\n
But, the three later verified that they were not invited in
\ntheir capacity as KPU members, he said.<\/p>\n
\"At that time we had filed a complaint against Buyung to the
\npolice. Unfortunately, we did not hear any more from the police,\"
\nhe said.<\/p>\n
Bennie said the petition can be considered as the best
\nalternative solution to end the tension between the government
\nand the legislators.<\/p>\n
\"Many people believe that there should be a reelection to
\nsolve the matter by electing a new president and legislators.<\/p>\n
\"If there is to be a reelection, the most acceptable argument
\nis that the government regulation has been invalid since its
\ndeliberation,\" he said.<\/p>\n
He said the legitimacy of the legislators was questionable as
\nthey had rejected the accountability speech of then president
\nB.J. Habibie, the content of which recognized the results and the
\nvalidity of the 1999 election.<\/p>\n
\"It's such a strange motion of the legislators as the first
\nthing they did was to reject their own existence and suggest the
\ndismissal of the KPU which had authorized the ballot counting, as
\nwell as their vote tally,\" he added.<\/p>\n
There were 48 political parties contesting the 1999 election,
\nbut only 21 of them had met the quota to book seats at the
\nlegislative bodies.<\/p>\n
The remaining 27 -- which had obtained a total of some 6.7
\nmillion votes or 6.38 percent of more than 105.7 million eligible
\nvoters -- rejected the final vote count, citing vote-rigging and
\nother poll violations in the June 7, 1999 elections as their main
\nconcerns.<\/p>\n
Deputy Chief Justice Taufiq said the Supreme Court's panel of
\njudicial review judges will soon work on the petition, the
\nresults of which will be made public. (bby)<\/p>",
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