450,000 students to monitor June elections

JAKARTA (JP): University rectors across the country are to recruit 450,000 students to monitor voting at 75 percent of the estimated 600,000 polling booths, even as experts warned of possible unrest marring the event planned for June 7.

Antara quoted Sidik Priadana of the Independent Committee for the Elections and Democratization, an organization set up by the Indonesian Rectors Forum, as saying in Bandung on Tuesday that faculty members would also be deployed to "make the polls a success."

He said the second national congress of the rectors forum in Bali on Feb. 14 would launch the committee and its units, including the student poll monitors. The committee was established to help ensure "the nation's survival through, among other things, fair and just elections."

"If the election results were to be rejected by the people, bigger tragedies would await us," he said, adding the United States, Japan and Australia have expressed readiness to provide the committee with equipment and other facilities to train the poll watchdogs.

In addition, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) was extending US$10,000 for the training.

Meanwhile, political observers Riswandha Imawan and Franz- Magnus Suseno separately spoke of dangers lurking in the runup to the general election. Antara quoted Suseno as saying in Semarang, Central Java, on Tuesday that in order to avert such a fearful situation, the Armed Forces (ABRI) should first take the deterrent step of arresting the alleged masterminds of recent riots even if they were government officials.

"The rioting ... must be ended to prevent disruptions of the poll," he said. "If the election should fail, it will be the people who bear the adverse consequences."

He also warned against plotting to hold a rival general election, which some people have spoken of, as this would be in violation of the law.

Riswandha, who is a lecturer at Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta, said the General Election Agency's failure to schedule a "cooling off period" after the planned campaigning weeks "could result in sociopolitical instability that could foil the conduct of the elections.

"In the highly-charged political situation, why follow the long campaign period (May 18-June 6) directly with polling?" he asked as quoted by Antara.

In the 1997 elections, hundreds were killed in campaign- related unrest.

He suggested the campaign period be shortened to give room for a cooling off week prior to the polling day. "If the schedule is not revised, I would be suspicious of attempted engineering by some determined to foil the election, who would then reinstitute a repressive government," he said.

Preparations

Separately, 10 political parties came to an agreement to focus exclusively on making the election a success, saying that only after passing this milestone would they begin to address other issues.

The parties were the People's Awakening Party (PKB), Golkar, the Crescent Star Party (PBB), the United Development Party (PPP), both camps of the splintered Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI), the New Masyumi Party, the People's Party (PARI), the Women's Party and the Justice Party (PK).

"...we've got to define our problems now. Let's target a successful general election first," PPP deputy secretary-general Bachtiar Chamsyah said in the discussion.

At least 200 new parties have recently been established, all clamoring to contest the elections but the government has estimated only 30 would qualify.

Meanwhile, Antara reported the Ministry of Justice has witnessed increasing visits by representatives of new political parties wanting to register their organizations although the newly endorsed political bills have yet to be signed into law.

"We have not opened registration, but they're coming anyway and bringing the required documents," according to Oka Mahendra of the ministry. A three-day registration period was planned to begin on Feb. 4, but it would likely be delayed because the laws have not been enacted.

He conceded that problems abound, because there were parties bearing the same names and logos, a situation which would violate the new political bills. There were, for instance, four registrations for the Indonesian Nationalist Party (PNI) being made respectively by four different delegations led by Mrs. Supeni, Bachtiar Osa, Irawan Sunaryo and former president Soeharto's half brother Probosutedjo.

Supeni said, "The government could just call us PNI 1, PNI 2, and so forth." (swe/01/aan/har)