2,926 reported poll violations to be probed

JAKARTA (JP): The government promised yesterday to investigate almost 3,000 cases of alleged electoral law violations which occurred before and during May's general election.

The National Election Supervision Committee's chairman, Singgih, said he had ordered provincial authorities to investigate the claims.

The United Development Party (PPP) has reported 984 violations, Golkar has reported 1,572 and the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) 370, according to data released yesterday by the National Elections Institute.

The institute said 747 of the claims were on administrative violations, 240 were on political violations and 1,912 were on criminal violations.

The criminal cases include slander against President Soeharto, the burning of ballot boxes on Madura island and rioting in the South Kalimantan capital of Banjarmasin, which left 123 people dead.

"We have agreed that provincial electoral committees will follow up the reports and we will monitor the progress of their investigations," said Singgih, also the Attorney General, after the announcement of final election results at the National Elections Institute.

"As for the cases that are political and administrative in nature, we will hand them over to the National Elections Committee for investigation," he said.

The elections committee's deputy chairman, Lt. Gen. Syarwan Hamid, said the Armed Forces was ready to ensure the safety of investigations into the alleged breaches of electoral law.

"We are ready to help the investigations without being ordered," said Syarwan, also the Armed Forces chief of sociopolitical affairs.

The National Elections Institute's chairman, Moch. Yogie S.M., pledged that the government would investigate fairly, even if an alleged violation was committed by the government-backed Golkar.

"All reports will be processed," said Yogie, also minister of home affairs.

The Moslem-based PPP has been the most vehement protester of electoral law violations. Long before campaigning officially began, it accused Golkar chairman Harmoko of campaigning under the guise of meeting party cadres.

The PPP said that poll-rigging in this year's election was worse than in past elections.

PPP chairman Ismail Hasan Metareum said at a ceremony to endorse the final poll results that the party would wait to see how the government handled their complaints.

Ismail said the government could no longer shut its eyes to the violations. "Things are different now," he said.

PPP secretary-general Tosari Widjaya said that, despite the party's endorsement of final results, the party would continue to pursue legal action against government officials for alleged electoral fraud.

PDI secretary-general Buttu R. Hutapea said this year's election was "marred by widespread violations," and that the party would pursue legal action against those who had committed them.

"Our party's lawyers are studying possible lawsuits, but we'll leave all these matters to our provincial chapters," Buttu said.

Golkar chairman Harmoko said it had been "a quality election" but that violations, especially those related to riots during the campaign, should be processed according to the law.

"They are purely criminal practices that should be thoroughly investigated," he said.

Harmoko said he did not agree with those who said that the reported widespread vote-rigging had tarnished this year's election. (aan/amd)