KPU issues guidelines for recruiting legislative candidates<\/p>\n
Tiarma Siboro and Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post,
\nJakarta<\/p>\n
The General Elections Commission (KPU) has issued guidelines on
\nrecruiting legislative candidates for political parties
\nparticipating in the 2004 elections.<\/p>\n
KPU chairman Nazaruddin Syamsuddin said on Thursday that the
\nguidelines aimed at netting qualified individuals through a
\ndemocratic and transparent process.<\/p>\n
\"These are a very important guidelines for political parties
\nas they must screen their legislative candidates through a
\ndemocratic and transparent process,\" Nazaruddin said.<\/p>\n
According to the guidelines, the maximum number of legislative
\ncandidates a political party may propose is 120 percent of the
\nseats contested. Each party is also urged to allocate 30 percent
\nof its legislative seats to female candidates as suggested in the
\nElection Law.<\/p>\n
It also stipulates that a legislative candidate must, among
\nother things, be an Indonesian citizen of at least 21 years of
\nage and reside in Indonesia, be able to speak, read and write in
\nIndonesia and possess at least a high school diploma or its
\nequivalent.<\/p>\n
\"The requirements to speak, read and write in Indonesian are
\nnot made to limit the political rights of disabled citizens who
\nhave the capability to carry out the tasks of a legislator,\" the
\nguidelines state.<\/p>\n
A candidate must not be linked whatsoever to the outlawed
\nIndonesian Communist Party (PKI), must have no criminal
\nconviction of more than five years, and must produce a clean bill
\nof health, be an eligible voter and a member of political party.<\/p>\n
A number of election watchdogs, however, criticized the KPU on
\nThursday for not defining \"democratic and transparent process\"
\nclearly.<\/p>\n
Smita Nososusanto from the Center for Electoral Reform (Cetro)
\nsuggested that the KPU give parties more time to select their
\nlegislative candidates to allow public participation in the
\nselection process.<\/p>\n
\"The new regulation makes the selection process of legislative
\ncandidates prone to money politics as parties will only propose
\ncandidates who are able to buy votes,\" she told a press
\nconference on Thursday.<\/p>\n
In a bid to prevent vote-buying during the selection of
\nlegislative candidates, some watchdogs have established a network
\nto collect data on the track records of each politician.<\/p>\n
Teten Masduki, who leads the Indonesian Corruption Watch
\n(ICW), said on Thursday that the network had already set up
\noffices in eight regions.<\/p>\n
The eight regions are Padang in West Sumatra, Bandung in West
\nJava, Kupang in East Nusa Tenggara, Mataram in West Nusa
\nTenggara, Lampung, Samarinda in East Kalimantan, Pontianak in
\nWest Kalimantan and Makassar in South Sulawesi.<\/p>\n
\"They (the watchdogs) must not hesitate to tell the public
\nabout violations committed by legislative aspirants, including
\ncorruption charges, domestic violence or sexual harassment and
\nrights abuses,\" Teten said.<\/p>\n
Separately, National Resilience Institute (Lemhannas) governor
\nErmaya Suradinata said that stability in the country would be
\ncritical ahead of the 2004 elections, and that the elections
\nmight not eventuate if people remained unaware of the critical
\nsituation.<\/p>\n
He named six problems the country would face ahead of the
\nelections: the nation's political culture, which tends to put
\npersonal interests above national interests; the lack of
\npolitical communication among the elite; poor performance of the
\npolitical elite, making it difficult for people to identify
\nqualified figures; the increasing number of apathetic people;
\nworsening security across the country, especially in the Central
\nSulawesi town of Poso, as well as in Papua and Aceh; and the poor
\nperformance of legal enforcers, especially in dealing with cases
\nthought to have a political connection.<\/p>\n
\"Therefore, I suggest the political elite set a forum to share
\nideas over the aim of this nation,\" Ermaya said.<\/p>",
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