ABRI keeps eye on election watchdog

ABRI keeps eye on election watchdog

JAKARTA (JP): Top military officials have promised to remain vigilant towards possible transgressions by a newly formed independent poll watchdog despite the absence of any indication it has negative intentions.

Army Chief Gen. R. Hartono admitted that there is as yet nothing to suggest that the Independent Election Monitoring Committee (KIPP) will deviate from its stated aims.

"I haven't received any reports that the committee's actions diverge from the spirit in which it was declared some time ago," he told Antara on Saturday.

Speaking after the inauguration of Maj. Gen. Sutiyoso as chief of the Jakarta Military Command, Hartono warned the independent watchdog not to deviate from "the corridors allowed by the law".

The committee was founded earlier this month in reaction to the public's growing call for a mechanism, independent of the official poll monitoring body, the Election Supervision Committee, to watch over the next year's general election.

Government officials in Jakarta have responded cautiously to this new group, while several governors have altogether rejected the possibility of accepting the Independent Election Monitoring Committee in their province.

Armed Forces (ABRI) chief of general affairs Lt. Gen. Soeyono said that while the military is not against the monitoring committee, that does not mean that it is disregarding the new group.

Disruptions

He warned that ABRI will not tolerate any disruptions in the 1997 general election and the 1998 plenary session of the People's Consultative Assembly.

"People are the most important aspect of any organization. If it is being run by irresponsible elements, then the organization will also become irresponsible," Soeyono said.

Goenawan Mohammad, chief editor of the now banned Tempo magazine, chairs the committee, while the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation's Mulyana W. Kusumah is its secretary-general.

Meanwhile, the chairperson of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI), Megawati Soekarnoputri, described the formation of the independent poll watchdog as a manifestation of the people's will.

Speaking in a celebration of the party's 23rd anniversary in Palangkaraya, Central Kalimantan, Megawati said it was perfectly within the people's constitutional right to partake in the overseeing of a fair and honest election.

However, she then queried why there was such an overwhelming drive to form such an independent watchdog.

"What should become a question to us all is why the people stressed the need for such a body which has now taken shape in the form of KIPP to monitor the 1997 election process," the daughter of former president Sukarno said as quoted by Antara.

In Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara, the Minister of Transmigration Siswono Yudohusodo acknowledged the presence of the watchdog as a congruent development.

"Every Indonesian citizen has an equal right to oversee the implementation of the general election. If there is someone who thinks it necessary to monitor it, then go ahead, it's quite natural," he said.

Siswono, however, pointed out that there was an officially sanctioned body for the purpose and remarked that the monitoring of elections can be done individually and not necessarily through an organization such as the monitoring committee.

"I myself, as member of the community during the previous elections, took part in the monitoring of the polls. There was no limitation, it was all done openly," Siswono said. (mds)