75% eligible voters sign up in Maluku

75% eligible voters sign up in Maluku

JAKARTA (JP): Campaigning and election preparations continued
on Friday in the trouble spots of Aceh and Maluku, but came to a
standstill for the second day in a row in at least one town in
Irian Jaya, which has recently witnessed an upsurge of
separatism.

In Banda Aceh, the capital of Aceh, Golkar chairman Akbar
Tandjung managed to attract an estimated 5,000 participants to
his campaign gathering. The huge turn up was unusual, as most
other parties have canceled activities because of widespread
rejection by the Acehnese of the June 7 general election.

Akbar said his party would fight to meet Acehnese demands for
wide-ranging autonomy if it won the elections.

Golkar, however, "does not support the call for a referendum,"
he said. "Indonesia is a unitary state which includes Aceh. Aceh
helped it gain its independence, there's no way Aceh could be
separated (from the republic.)"

Also in Banda Aceh, the Ministry of Defense's secretary-
general Lt. Gen. Fachrul Razy said it was impossible for
Indonesia to consider a referendum and eventual independence for
Aceh.

He pointed out that the province is made up of various ethnic
groups. "If it became independent, then certain regencies
(dominated by certain ethnic groups) would also demand
separation."

Separately, in the North Sumatra capital of Medan, Bukit
Barisan Regional Military Command spokesman Lt. Col. H. Nurdin
Sulistyo said the Indonesian Military had no intention of
provoking Acehnese, or preventing election campaigning in the
province.

Sulistyo was quoted by Antara as responding to a news report
that authorities would be unable to hold polls in North Aceh due
to interruptions from armed groups.

Muslim leader Abdurrahman Wahid described on Friday how
officials had been threatened and were unable to sit on election
committees. He said threats came from paid retired officers
grouped in the "Taliban movement" as well as from the Free Aceh
Movement.

Sulistyo, however, said the military and police in Aceh
remained consistent in their opposition to the "security
disturbance activists... who often turn residents into human
shields so they can freely shoot at security personnel, even at
the expense of the innocent people".

Meanwhile, Pidie Police chief Lt. Col. Siswandi said those
responsible for attacking United Development Party (PPP)
supporters were still at large.

Twelve alleged members of the separatist Free Aceh Movement
kidnapped four PPP campaign workers and set their vehicle on fire
to protest the elections in Geulumpang Tiga district in Pidie
regency, Aceh, on Thursday.

Meanwhile, about 75 percent of the riot-torn Maluku's 1,2
million eligible voters have signed up for the polls, Antara
reported on Friday. The voter registration period ended on
Friday,

In capital city of Ambon alone, 59 percent of some 205,000
eligible voters have signed up for the elections. Minister of
Home Affairs Syarwan Hamid is scheduled to visit the capital of
Maluku on Saturday to check on election preparations.

More than 300 people have been killed in months of clashes
between Muslims and Christians in the province which first
erupted in Ambon in mid-January.

In the Irian Jaya town of Manokwari, some 500 kilometers west
of the provincial capital Jayapura, campaigning activities have
been halted for the past two days. Thousands of people took to
the streets to protest the death of Nataniel Sawaky, 16, who was
allegedly tortured by police while he was held in detention.

Nataniel's father, Onisimus Sawaky, 67, said his son died at
the Manokwari General Hospital on Thursday. The hospital
confirmed that Nataniel died from trauma to the back of the head
caused by a blunt object.

Onisimus quoted Nataniel as saying on Wednesday police hit his
head with a rifle butt after he was arrested on drunk and
disorderly charges on Monday.

Manokwari Police chief Lt. Col. R.T. Hutabarat, however,
denied the allegation and said Nataniel fell from the police
truck as he attempted to flee police. (34/39/byg)