Alarms ring over poll disruptions

JAKARTA (JP): Five weeks ahead of the June 7 general election, poll watch organizations warned on Friday of various disruptions, including separatists' calls for a boycott in troubled Aceh, bribery and alleged military intimidation of poll monitoring volunteers.

The Independent Election Monitoring Committee (KIPP) revealed a report that members of the separatist Free Aceh Movement distributed sharp weapons to residents of Pidie and North Aceh regencies, and threatened those who expressed their wish to vote.

KIPP secretary-general Mulyana W. Kusumah said the report was from the organization's Aceh chapter.

So far only about 11 percent of the 2,315,244 eligible voters in Aceh have registered for the elections, he said.

"The security forces there have not anticipated such a (situation)," he said, urging the authorities to guarantee the safety of people wishing to exercise their political rights.

"We want the Indonesian Military and Police to take serious measures to protect the people's rights not only in Aceh, but also in troubled provinces such as Maluku, Irian Jaya and East Timor."

Antara reported on Friday that residents of West Aceh regency were terrorized by three people who threatened them with abduction if they voted.

"The three are outsiders, and claim to be supporters of the referendum for Aceh. They live in Babah Nipah village, about 120 kilometers west of Aceh's capital of Banda Aceh," regency legislator Radja Radan was quoted by the news agency as saying.

"Since their arrival, proreferendum banners have been hoisted along the main road from here to Banda Aceh.

"They also have been conducting searches of buses and cars on the main road, extorting money from motorists," he said.

Security forces are reluctant to take firm action against them "due to a lack of evidence", Radja added.

KIPP also disclosed new reports about cheating compiled by 70 of its 145 offices across 25 provinces.

"Some volunteers in Kudus, Central Java, have been threatened by Army officers there to stop monitoring the polls, and that they should not discredit Golkar," Mulyana said.

In South Kalimantan, about 500 fake voter registration forms were found. Local polling officials reportedly filled in the forms themselves, using fictitious names and addresses, he said.

Almost all of the major parties have breached rules by mobilizing their supporters for gatherings, he said.

"The United Development Party (PPP), Golkar and the Crescent Star Party did it in Bengkulu, while the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) broke the rules in Denpasar, Bali, and the People's Sovereignty Party in Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara."

Mulyana also complained that poor facilities hampered voter registration at the subdistrict level and that the supposed number of registrants was incorrect.

"We believe the General Elections Commission (KPU) made an overestimation when it said 69 percent of the total 130 million eligible voters were registered.

"Many of the registered voters are actually ineligible, for instance, members of the military."

According to Article 30 of the Elections Law, Indonesian Military and Police personnel are not allowed to vote.

"There also are written orders and policies from parties that every legislative candidate has to give a certain amount of money to the parties, depending on the electoral level," he said.

Some PPP legislative candidates for the House of Representatives have had to pay up to Rp 100 million, Mulyana alleged.

Under the law, a Rp 15 million donation from an individual and Rp 150 million from a corporate body are permitted annually.

Also on Friday, KIPP and four other independent poll watch organizations vowed to defy restrictions imposed on them by the government and continue with their activities.

The others were the University Network for Free and Fair Elections (Unfrel), Public Network of Indonesia's Poll Monitoring (JAMPPI), Poll Monitor of Indonesian Prosperous Workers Union (KPP SBSI) and the Network of People Voters Education.

"A KPU decree on election monitoring stipulates that we submit reports of our findings on every electorate level to the commission before the announcement of the balloting results," Agung Suprayitno of Unfrel said.

"That's unfair. Furthermore, we refuse to submit data on our volunteers for security reasons."

In East Nusa Tenggara, an Amanatun Utara district chief reportedly told residents that if Golkar won the polls, chairwoman of PDI Perjuangan Megawati Soekarnoputri and her followers would be killed.

In Yogyakarta, several cases of cheating were found, including premature campaigning at already erected polling booths. (edt/yac/swa)