Most people said polls fair and free<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): More than 80 percent of Indonesian voters
\nbelieve the June 7 general election proceeded in a fair and free
\nmanner, according to an electoral survey conducted one week after
\nthe polls.<\/p>\n
Carried out by political experts of the University of
\nIndonesia's School of Social and Political Sciences, supervised by
\nAmerican expert R. William Liddle, the study also found that 68
\npercent of the respondents said they felt \"freer\" during the
\nballoting. Another 18.4 percent said they felt \"far freer\" on
\nJune 7 compared to the previous elections under the New Order
\nregime, the survey revealed.<\/p>\n
Another supervisor of the study, Valina Singka Subekti, said
\nthe survey was the first electoral study to be conducted in
\nIndonesia since the 1955 elections. The study was conducted in
\ncooperation with the Department of Political Sciences, Ohio State
\nUniversity, where Liddle is a professor.<\/p>\n
\"The study aimed to learn why a voter choose a party,\" said
\nValina. \"It's important to understand voters' behavior and its
\nconsequences to the future of Indonesian democracy.\"<\/p>\n
Valina's colleague, Eep Saefulloh Fatah, said the study
\ninvolved 2,496 respondents from 312 villages in 26 provinces.
\nOnly East Timor was excluded from the study due to security
\nreasons. Four female and four male respondents were involved in
\nthe study from each village.<\/p>\n
\"We could only analyze (the responses from) 2,488 respondents
\nwith a margin of error of two percent,\" said Eep.<\/p>\n
Another team member, Saiful Mujani, who is a political
\ndoctorate candidate at the Ohio State University, said the 1999
\npolls was characterized by an absence of relation between a
\nvoter's preference and his or her religious, social and ethnic
\nbackground.<\/p>\n
He pointed out how the majority of voters were Muslims but the
\nIslamic parties were defeated. \"Parties that fared better were
\n\"old\" ones like Golkar and the Indonesian Democratic Party of
\nStruggle (PDI Perjuangan),\" he said.<\/p>\n
\"A simple conclusion is that Indonesian voters are very
\npartisan, either to a party or to its leader,\" Saiful said
\nadmitting the team could not agree on which factor played a more
\nimportant role.<\/p>\n
Another team member, Sri Budi Eko Wardani, said only 2.6
\npercent of voters felt that there were no changes in the June
\npolls, as opposed to the 86.4 percent who reported feeling a
\ngreater sense of freedom.<\/p>\n
Sri said 37 percent of the voters were against the military's
\ninvolvement in the administration, compared to 11.5 percent who
\nsupported military involvement. Another 13.8 percent \"were not
\nsure\" while 25.8 percent said they could \"tolerate\" military
\ninvolvement.<\/p>\n
\"We have to be aware of voters who still tolerate the
\nmilitary's involvement in government,\" Sri said.<\/p>\n
\"It's also interesting because 26 percent considered the (32
\nyears of) Soeharto's regime 'good', 24.1 percent said they felt
\n'neutral' about it, 21.2 percent thought it was 'bad' and another
\n6.5 percent said the regime was 'very bad',\" she said. (05)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/most-people-said-polls-fair-and-free-1447893297",
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