KPU ruling referred to Supreme Court<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): President B.J. Habibie referred to the Supreme
\nCourt on Thursday the recent ruling of the General Elections
\nCommission (KPU) banning political parties from using state
\nofficials in their campaigns.<\/p>\n
\"I have asked the Minister of Justice to give his legal
\nopinion on the KPU's decision, then I will submit it to the ad
\ninterim home affairs minister. He is asking for the Supreme
\nCourt's legal instruction,\" Habibie said, Antara reported.
\nCoordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Feisal
\nTanjung is the acting home affairs minister<\/p>\n
After meeting with Habibie and 48 political party
\nrepresentatives at Merdeka Palace, Minister\/State Secretary Akbar
\nTandjung said a decision on whether the ruling would be made into
\nlaw was expected within the next few days.<\/p>\n
\"The President has said that whatever the decision, he will
\nobey it,\" Akbar, who also chairs the ruling Golkar party, said.
\nGolkar would suffer the most if the ruling is passed as most
\nsenior state officials are also party members.<\/p>\n
Akbar said if the Supreme Court agreed with the KPU ruling,
\nministers would have to quit their posts if they insisted on
\ncampaigning for their parties.<\/p>\n
But otherwise, all ministers wishing to campaign for their
\nparties must take a leave of absence, Akbar said.<\/p>\n
He said the President had prepared a decree on such an
\narrangement before the KPU ruled against parties employing
\nofficials in their campaigns. KPU chairman Rudini said the ruling
\nwas part of the commission's task to formulate an electoral code
\nof conduct.<\/p>\n
The KPU's latest decision led Habibie to ask for an assessment
\nof the ruling from the Supreme Court, while at the same time he
\n\"offered\" the government's \"legal opinion\", Akbar said.<\/p>\n
Also at Merdeka Palace, Minister of Justice Muladi said the
\nKPU should have first consulted Habibie before issuing the
\nruling. The law on elections states that the President is
\nresponsible for the elections.<\/p>\n
The KPU could not just \"extensively\" interpret its authority,
\nMuladi said. \"But whatever the edict says, all must comply with
\nit,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Separately, KPU chairman Rudini was apparently miffed, saying
\nthe KPU's decision, which was voted on by commission members, had
\nbeen reached democratically. While he agreed it was within the
\nSupreme Court's authority to veto such a ruling, he said the
\ngovernment should be magnanimous enough to accept the decision.<\/p>\n
\"I'd like to explain again here, that the KPU is not banning
\nministers from campaigning, but regulating that political parties
\ncannot use their members in the government to campaign,\" the
\nformer minister of home affairs said, as quoted by Antara.<\/p>\n
Rudini stressed the commission would impose sanctions on
\nministers who violated the KPU decision.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the KPU ruling continued to draw a mixed response
\non Thursday. The ban on state officials campaigning was seen as a
\nmajor blow to the Golkar party, as most ministers and officials,
\nright down to the subdistrict level, are Golkar executives.<\/p>\n
Politicians and observers said Thursday they could understand
\nthe decision in the light of past experiences, referring to the
\nfrequently cited practice of incumbent ministers abusing state
\nfacilities to help Golkar win previous elections.<\/p>\n
But most questioned the KPU's so-called \"double standard\",
\nallowing its members to campaign while banning state officials
\nfrom doing so.<\/p>\n
Chairman of the United Development Party Hamzah Haz said the
\nrulings must be reviewed. Hamzah, the state minister of
\ninvestment, said his colleagues could simply take leave of
\nabsence if they wished to campaign for their parties.<\/p>\n
\"They would not be allowed to use their ministry's facilities,
\nincluding their cars. Then people can judge whether the present
\nGolkar is different from the past,\" he said.<\/p>\n
In a discussion at the Center for Strategic and International
\nStudies here, Ryaas Rasyid, a senior official from the ministry
\nof home affairs and a politics professor, said it was more
\nimportant for the nation to establish a democratic electoral
\nsystem rather than to simply defeat Golkar. (aan\/gis)<\/p>",
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