Old parties may dominate elections<\/p>\n
A. Junaidi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The Habibie Center, a study center founded by former president
\nB.J. Habibie, predicted on Wednesday the general elections would
\nnot produce leaders who cared about issues affecting the common
\npeople and would keep the existing six major political parties in
\npower.<\/p>\n
The center's political analyst Indria Samego said people would
\nremain loyal to the major parties and ignore the 18 new parties
\ndue to a lack of voter education.<\/p>\n
"Now, we have already run out of time to educate people to
\nvote for political parties based on reason. The General Elections
\nCommission has failed in its duty to educate voters," Indria told
\na media conference on Indonesia's outlook for 2004.<\/p>\n
The 1999 general elections saw the Indonesian Democratic Party
\nof Struggle (PDI-P), the Golkar Party, the United Development
\nParty (PPP), the National Awakening Party (PKB), the National
\nMandate Party (PAN) and the Crescent Star Party (PBB) win among
\nthem almost all the 500 House of Representatives seats. The six
\nparties met the 2 percent electoral threshold, which has enabled
\nthem to qualify for this year's polls.<\/p>\n
Indonesia will hold the legislative election on April 5 and
\nthe landmark direct presidential election on July 5 for the first
\nphase and Sept. 20 for the run-off.<\/p>\n
Indria predicted the former ruling Golkar Party would defeat
\nPresident Megawati Soekarnoputri's PDI-P in the legislative
\nelection, in view of the internal conflict plaguing the latter.<\/p>\n
"But for the presidential election, Megawati and Amien Rais
\nwill emerge as the strongest contenders," he said. Amien is the
\nleader of PAN and the People's Consultative Assembly speaker.<\/p>\n
Indria said if Amien managed to intensify his campaign across
\nthe country, he had a fair chance of winning the presidency.<\/p>\n
"If Amien fails, Megawati will be elected for the full five-
\nyear term thanks to her popularity," said Indria, who is also a
\nresearcher with the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI).<\/p>\n
Amien succeeded in establishing a loose coalition among
\nIslamic political parties and politicians that catapulted PKB
\nfounder Abdurrahman Wahid to the presidency at the expense of
\nMegawati in the 1999 election.<\/p>\n
In general, the Habibie Center said Megawati's administration
\nhad not made many improvements in the political sphere, regional
\nautonomy or law enforcement in 2003.<\/p>\n
The center's legal expert Muladi said the Supreme Court had
\nfailed to decide on high profile cases, including the corruption
\ncase involving House of Representative Speaker and Golkar Party
\nleader Akbar Tandjung.<\/p>\n
"The case should not be kept hanging in the balance. The Court
\napparently has no sense of crisis," Muladi, the justice minister
\nunder President B.J. Habibie, said.<\/p>\n
The Jakarta High Court upheld last year Akbar's three-year
\nprison sentence for his role in a Rp 40 billion (US$4,7 million)
\ngraft case involving the State Logistics Agency (Bulog). Akbar
\nremains free pending the Supreme Court's verdict.<\/p>\n
Muladi also supported the movement against crooked
\npoliticians, but warned the initiators of the campaign against
\nmentioning any names as it could be libelous.<\/p>\n
"I agree to spelling out the definition of a crooked
\npolitician, but never mention any names. The politicians targeted
\nwould have strong reason to sue the movement," he claimed.<\/p>\n
Dozens of noted intellectuals and activists launched the
\nmovement, defining crooked politicians, which included
\ninvolvement in corruption, human rights violations, environmental
\ndestruction, domestic violence and drug abuse.<\/p>",
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