NGOs seek support through mass media<\/p>\n
By Joko E. Anwar<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Legislators and employees of the People's
\nConsultative Assembly (MPR) office were reportedly annoyed when
\nhundreds of forms kept coming through their facsimile machines.<\/p>\n
They can probably expect many more until the scheduled
\nAssembly session in August.<\/p>\n
The forms saying \"Yes! I agree to a direct presidential
\nelection!\" turned out to be from the Center for Electoral Reform
\n(Cetro).<\/p>\n
The non-government organization, along with 12 other groups,
\norganized the campaign seeking support for a direct presidential
\nelection in the 2004 general elections.<\/p>\n
They've published a pro-direct election advertisement that
\noccupies a whole page of the May 15 edition of Tempo weekly news
\nmagazine. The ad can also be found in the May 15 editions of
\nKompas, Jawa Pos, Pikiran Rakyat, and other national
\npublications.<\/p>\n
Beneath photographs of Indonesia's three former presidents and
\nPresident Abdurrahman Wahid, the text of the ad begins, \"Of these
\nfour presidents, not one was elected directly by the people.\"<\/p>\n
A form is provided in the ad so that readers can state their
\nsupport and fax the slips to fax numbers at either MPR or Cetro.<\/p>\n
MPR's mailing address is also provided.<\/p>\n
Yoyok Prakoso, Cetro's director of advocacy, said that the
\nstrategy was drawn from experience.<\/p>\n
\"We learned that if we collected the statements of support
\nfirst and then handed them to MPR, they wouldn't bother to look
\nat them,\" Yoyok said on Saturday.<\/p>\n
He was referring to Cetro's efforts in gathering public
\nsupport for an open presidential ballot among MPR members last
\nOctober when MPR decided to conduct a closed presidential ballot.<\/p>\n
Among the participating NGOs in the campaign are the
\nIndonesian Corruption Watch (ICW), the Independent Election
\nMonitoring Committee (KIPP), the Indonesian Coalition of Women,
\nthe Indonesian Forum for Environment (Walhi), and the Indonesian
\nLegal Aid and Human Rights Association (PBHI).<\/p>\n
Rp 600 million had been allocated to the campaigns.<\/p>\n
The funds were obtained from the United Nations Development
\nProgramme (UNDP) and the United States Agency for International
\nDevelopment (USAID).<\/p>\n
Another Cetro activist, Hadar Gumay, said, \"Making a petition
\nthrough the mass media is better than gathering a lot of people
\nfor street rallies.\"<\/p>\n
He said a rally could be used by a third party to create
\nriots.<\/p>\n
While people have welcomed freedom of expression since
\nSoeharto stepped down in 1998, excesses like the closing of toll
\nroads and rioting have led to little sympathy for protesters.<\/p>\n
Readers meanwhile showed mixed reactions to the new campaign.<\/p>\n
An avid reader of Kompas, Adamsyah Wahab, said that he
\nsupported the relatively new way of gaining public support,
\nsaying it \"makes people look at things more intelligently.\"<\/p>\n
\"I'll send the form in,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Tempo reader Nurul Ayu Kesuma said that while she supported
\nthe campaign, she was less enthusiastic about sending in the
\nform.<\/p>\n
KIPP activist Mulyana W. Kusumah said that the public, which
\nnow had sufficient political awareness, was ready for a direct
\npresidential election.<\/p>\n
Such a mechanism would be enacted by an amendment in the 1945
\nconstitution.<\/p>\n
The constitution rules that a president is invariably elected
\nby members of MPR.<\/p>\n
The campaign, Mulyana added, will try to add increasing
\npressure to MPR's ad hoc committee which is assigned to make
\namendments in the constitution.<\/p>\n
They are expected to include the policy of direct presidential
\nelections in their amendments, and Mulyana wants to make sure
\nthey follow through and actually draw up the amendment before
\n2004.<\/p>\n
According to Yoyok, last Friday almost 1,000 forms of support
\nhad been faxed to MPR.<\/p>\n
\"We already received complaints from MPR leaders through their
\npublic relations officials about the incoming faxes to their
\noffices,\" Yoyok said.<\/p>\n
Regardless of complaints, the public should be free to use the
\nfax numbers, he said.<\/p>\n
Hadar said that Cetro would change the fax numbers on the
\nforms, replacing them with MPR's public relations office fax
\nnumber, because the fax numbers in the MPR's leaders' offices had
\nalready been turned off.<\/p>\n
Hadar said that the campaign would run several more times in
\nthe print media, until the MPR general session in August.<\/p>\n
Some radio versions of the campaign were being made, he added.<\/p>\n
An activist from the City Network (Jarkot), Mariole, said,
\nhowever, that street rallies were still much more effective in
\nsending a message to the government and MPR.<\/p>\n
\"(Campaign through mass media) won't replace the role of
\nstreet rallies,\" Mariole told the Post.<\/p>\n
Rallies put stronger pressure on government legislators to
\nchange their policies, he added.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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