Most parties disobeyed rules: Poll watchdog<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The Election Supervisory Committee (Panwaslu)
\nannounced on Saturday almost all of the 48 political parties
\ncontesting the general election on Monday have violated various
\nelection rules.<\/p>\n
In a press statement evaluating the 16-day-long election
\ncampaigning which ended Friday, the body said: \"We are
\ndisappointed and surprised to find that almost all of the
\ncontestants have violated the election laws and regulations.\"<\/p>\n
Reading out the evaluation, committee member Dadang Hawari
\nsaid the contestants violated both traffic and the General
\nElection Committee's (KPU) regulations when they mobilized
\nsupporters from one area to another and staged street rallies.<\/p>\n
The rallies badly congested traffic in various cities and
\ndisrupted people's social and economic activities. In Jakarta
\nalone, some 70 percent of public transportation could not operate
\nduring the campaigning.<\/p>\n
Other violations, he said, concerned the content of speeches
\nof politicians and slogans of supporters, which disparaged other
\nparties or their leaders.<\/p>\n
Dadang said the majority of the contestants also ignored a law
\nwhich prohibits the use of government and religious facilities,
\nincluding subdistrict offices and mosques, for campaigning.<\/p>\n
The committee's deputy chairman Todung Mulya Lubis revealed
\nthat most of the contestants were also involved in \"money
\npolitics\" during the election campaigning.<\/p>\n
\"Almost all of the election contestants were involved in money
\npolitics. The only difference is the degree of their involvement,
\nbig or small,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Lubis said the majority of the contestants committed \"small-
\nscale money politics\" by promising supporters \"transportation
\nallowances\" if they showed up at the parties' campaign sessions.<\/p>\n
He alleged big-scale money politics were committed by Golkar
\nParty, the People's Sovereignty Party (PDR) and the United
\nDevelopment Party (PPP), who reportedly misused the Social Safety
\nNet Fund for their campaign activities.<\/p>\n
Another committee member, Arief Rachman, announced from the
\norganization's provisional report that there were 30,539 cases of
\ntraffic violations and 4,489 cases of \"administrative and
\nmethodology violations\".<\/p>\n
He also said there were 12,783 cases of disputes among
\ncontestants, 420 of which were settled on the spot, while the
\nrest were brought either to election committees or the district
\ncourts nationwide.<\/p>\n
In a related development, some 100 volunteers of the National
\nCitizens' Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel) were dispatched
\nSaturday to 41 towns and cities in six provinces: Jakarta, West,
\nCentral and East Java, Yogyakarta and Bali. The six provinces
\nwere believed to represent 64 percent of Indonesia's total voting
\npopulation of 130 million.<\/p>\n
The Philippines-based poll watch, which will be assisted by
\nthe Independent Election Monitoring Committee (KIPP), the
\nUniversity Network for a Free and Fair Election (Unfrel) and the
\nRector's Forum, will cover a sample of 76,821 polling stations.<\/p>\n
Namfrel volunteers will be led by chairman Jose Concepcion,
\nJr.<\/p>\n
Team members include former Philippines envoy to Cambodia Gen.
\n(ret) Thelmo Cunanan and Namfrel executive director Telibert
\nLaoc.<\/p>\n
On Friday, Indonesian Military Chief (TNI) Gen. Wiranto told
\nleaders of the Asian Network for Free Elections (Anfrel) that
\nsecurity was tight and would permit the elections.<\/p>\n
\"General Wiranto assured us in the meeting that the overall
\nsituation is very good,\" read Anfrel's press statement, copies of
\nwhich were made available to the media on Saturday.<\/p>\n
The seven-member delegation, representing Anfrel's 75
\nobservers from 18 countries in Asia, Europe and North America,
\nwas led by head of Anfrel's mission Gen. (ret) Sayud Kerdphol.<\/p>\n
Wiranto told the visiting delegation that the military will
\nremain neutral and stand from the same distance as all of the
\nelection contestants.<\/p>\n
\"The Indonesian Military will remain neutral in Monday's
\nelection and is committed to see a free and fair election,\" he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Asked about the situation in Aceh and the possibility of
\npostponing the election in other critical areas, he said the
\nincidents of violence were only in Aceh's isolated areas.<\/p>\n
\"Meanwhile, the security situation in East Timor and the
\nMaluku's capital of Ambon is good,\" he said. (imn)<\/p>",
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