Campaign 'most violent' since new order govt
Campaign 'most violent' since new order govt
JAKARTA (JP): This year's election campaign is the most
violent in the history of the New Order government, observers
have said.
Political scientist Syamsuddin Haris and sociologist Loekman
Soetrisno said in separate interviews over the weekend that the
campaign violence is very serious, as could be seen in the number
of deaths.
The Armed Forces has said that at least 73 people had been
killed between April 27 and May 15, mostly in traffic accidents
during unruly street rallies.
Reports said that apart from traffic accidents, many
fatalities and injuries occurred during clashes between
supporters of the three political parties and between supporters
and security officials.
Hundreds of public facilities, office buildings, cars and
party paraphernalia were also damaged by rally participants.
There were also reports of security personnel beatings supporters
during rallies.
In comparison, election campaigns were relatively peaceful
until 1982.
That year, security officials arrested more than 200 stone-
wielding people in Lapangan Banteng, Central Java.
The incident occurred when hundreds of people threw stones at
a Golkar rally which was attended by thousands of people. No
fatalities were reported but more than 60 people were wounded.
The 1987 campaign proceeded without any major incident. But in
1992, 23 people were reported to have died and about 200 were
injured during rallies. Officially the deaths happened in traffic
accidents.
A researcher at the National Institute of Sciences,
Syamsuddin, said it was ironic that this year's violence occurred
after the introduction of strict rules.
"This means there is no correlation between strict rules and
the number of campaign victims," he said.
He said the problem therefore was not in the campaign rules
but in the need to meet peoples' demands for more political
participation and a better political system.
"But because their demands are not met, people see the
campaign as a chance to let off steam. If the political system
was open to begin with, this wouldn't happen," he said.
A lecturer at Yogyakarta's Gadjah Mada University, Loekman,
said it was sad to see people attack each other just because they
wore different colored shirts.
"The problem lies in our political education," he said.
He said people were pressured to such an extent before
elections that they lost self-confidence and the ability to make
decisions for themselves.
"When the campaigns begin, they can only see it as a place to
break free, violate all the rules and take revenge ... Elections
are no longer seen as a chance to choose peoples'
representatives, because nothing has ever changed following an
election," he said.
Loekman said the satgas (party members who act as security
officials for their party) contributed to the violence.
The satgas, who wear Army-like uniforms, tend to bully people
around, he said.
"Just because they wear those uniforms, they think they can
physically pressure people. And in Indonesia, where 'the clothes
make the man' this really works," he said.
He said satgas should be eliminated from campaigns.
Both Loekman and Syamsuddin said violations would continue in
future campaigns if there was no change in Indonesia's electoral
system.
"People will continue to be violent if the system continues to
introduce legislative candidates the people don't know and allow
ballot manipulation, for example," Syamsuddin said.
Loekman said it was time the government was less involved in
elections and left it to the political parties.
He said the government had been intervening too much and too
obviously in politics.
"The government should stop looking for a scapegoat when
violence occurs ... It's about time the government realized there
is something wrong with our political education," he said.
Loekman warned that the situation could be the beginning of
civil unrest.
"It's still embryonic, but the government must pay close
attention to it," he said. (pwn)