Breaches of campaign rules becoming order of the day

JAKARTA (JP): Reports of violations of electoral campaigning rules are on the rise as political parties entered the second of three rounds of campaigning on Thursday.

Most cases reported from across the country entailed the removal of party flags, unruly campaigning in the streets and use of money incentives to draw supporters.

In the Central Java town of Purwokerto, activists of the Democratic People's Party (PRD) accused the police of removing their banners without reason. They filed a complaint with the General Elections Commission in Jakarta.

"We can't accept the police's action. Don't they know that we, too, have the right to promote our party with banners?" complained Arif, a Purwokerto PRD leader.

Banyumas Police chief Lt. Col. Jhonny H. Hutauruk said the authorities cleared the streets of PRD banners because they contained messages that could incite people to run riot.

Some of the banners, he said, told people to reject the involvement of the military and police in next month's elections.

"Everyone knows the political climate is heating up now. Such messages can stir up people's emotions," he said.

In Purwokerto, illegal removal of party flags also was reported by the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan).

Banyumas PDI Perjuangan branch office chief Narsim said the party lost 30 flags. Eyewitnesses said more than a dozen people stole the flags from the town's streets at about 3 a.m. on Wednesday.

The biggest number of missing banners was reported by the Golkar Party in Lampung. It claimed it had lost 1,000 banners, including one measuring 10 meters by 15 meters erected at the top of a hill.

Police arrested a man from Serang, West Java, who escaped from a mob that caught him red-handed removing Golkar banners in the streets of Sukarame. The suspect told the police he stole the banners for souvenirs.

Meanwhile, Central Jakarta election committee officials were surprised to receive a report that hundreds of civil servants -- traditional supporters of Golkar -- were involved in readying ballots without their consent.

Central Jakarta mayor Andi Subir Abdullah ducked for cover when journalists confronted him with the report. "I will ask the election committee if they are aware of the civil servants' involvement."

Central Jakarta election committee chief M. Mukson said the activity was illegal.

"The sociopolitical affairs (of the mayoralty) always handles technical matters related to elections, which are the committee's authority," Mukson said.

In West Sumatra, the Independent Election Monitoring Commission (KIPP) reported that all campaigning parties violated rules on the streets. Overloaded vehicles was the most common infraction.

KIPP also reported from the capital Padang that Golkar Party officials in cooperation with midwives distributed supplementary food to malnourished children in Pesisir Selatan regency with Golkar symbol on the packages.

Removal of party banners is also common in West Sumatra, Antara reported.

In East Timor, violations have happened mostly in the streets, such as vehicles carrying too many people and involving children in the campaign.

In Jakarta, deputy chairman of the Election Supervisory Committee (Panwaspus) Mulyana W. Kusumah said that the committee could not punish Golkar for allowing its security guards to carry sharp weapons.

He argued that other parties were guilty of the same infraction and they would have to punished as well if Golkar was sanctioned.

The Jakarta Election Supervisory Committee has proposed that Golkar be banned from campaigning in Jakarta for arming its security guards.

Mulyana stressed that his committee went ahead with the investigation into allegations that Golkar and the People's Sovereignty Party played money politics. (45/ind/pan/aan/edt/pan)