Parties abusing campaign ruling to be disqualified<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Political parties will be disqualified from the
\nJune general election if proven guilty of violating or ignoring
\ncampaign rules, scheduled to be passed by the General Elections
\nCommission (KPU) on Thursday.<\/p>\n
National Elections Committee (PPI) chairman Jacob Tobing said
\ndisqualification would be the maximum penalty against parties
\nbreaching the campaign rules. Authority to impose sanctions will
\nlie with the Election Supervisory Committee.<\/p>\n
"The Election Supervisory Committee is expected to be a fair
\nreferee in handling violations in all phases of the election
\nprocess," he told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Jacob, also deputy chairman of the Indonesian Democratic Party
\nof Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), said parties would be held
\nresponsible for violations and clashes involving their supporters
\nduring the campaign period scheduled from May 18 to June 4.<\/p>\n
Parties would be considered to have failed in curbing their
\nsupporters, he said. PDI Perjuangan supporters have also been
\ninvolved in a number of recent clashes.<\/p>\n
Jacob said parties would also be barred from mobilizing their
\nsupporters in open fields, or moving them from one regency or
\nmayoralty to others in an effort to prevent brawls.<\/p>\n
"The National Police, which will be in charge of security
\nduring the campaign season, is expected to be strict against any
\nviolations of the campaign rules ... We should learn from bad
\nexperiences from general elections in the past."<\/p>\n
The 1997 elections also barred campaigning at open sites, but
\nproblems arose during transportation of supporters to and from
\nrallies.<\/p>\n
Supporters of various parties have already started riding in
\nopen trucks to and from party functions, without reprimands from
\nthe police.<\/p>\n
Jacob was confident the KPU could help avoid clashes.<\/p>\n
In line with fears of clashes, campaigns may be restricted to
\ndialogs in closed arenas, a measure which would inevitably limit
\nthe numbers of participants.<\/p>\n
"The campaign schedule for all 48 parties will be designed so
\nwell that no clashes between party supporters will occur during
\nthe campaign season," he said.<\/p>\n
Campaign themes will be also limited to contestants' programs
\nand outlooks "which are not against the 1945 Constitution and the
\nnational development program" apart from state ideology
\nPancasila, he said.<\/p>\n
Jacob said that the election commission would also issue "11
\ncommands" for political parties, inclusive of activities of their
\nsupporters and campaigners.<\/p>\n
These would include barring campaigners and supporters from
\ndebating the 1945 Constitution, attacking individuals, religion,
\nethnicity, race and other parties, inciting violence, bringing
\nguns, issuing threats of violence, inciting supporters to commit
\nsubversion, campaigning in streets and damaging party banners and
\nflags installed in permitted sites.<\/p>\n
Central Java party officials have said that hundreds of their
\nbanners and flags have been damaged by supporters of other
\nparties.<\/p>\n
Election rules also bar parties from recruiting all government
\nand military officials, including ministers, for campaigning
\nduring the elections.<\/p>\n
KPU deputy chairman Adnan Buyung Nasution said that there was
\nno substantive reason to bar ministers or other officials from
\ncampaigning for their parties. He added it was their moral
\nobligation to fight for their political loyalties, acknowledging
\nit was not unusual for ministers to campaign in democratic
\ncountries such as the United States, France and Canada.<\/p>\n
"But the ban has been made because ... the nation is still
\ntraumatized by the bad experience ... when many officials used
\nstate facilities to campaign for their party," he said.<\/p>\n
Jacob warned officials, including village chiefs and
\nsubdistrict heads, against intimidating people into voting for
\nparticular parties.<\/p>\n
Political parties should also watch the registration of
\nprospective voters by authorized election staff, he said, with
\nthe process to run from April 4 through May 4.<\/p>\n
He said the election committee also simplified the requirement
\nfor registration. People lacking identity cards will be allowed
\nto show citizenship letters from their neighborhood chiefs.<\/p>\n
He added the election committee's 60 members would visit the
\nprovinces on Thursday to install provincial election committees.
\nThey will subsequently install regional committees in regencies
\nand mayoralties. (rms)<\/p>",
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