Candidates to be above the law during campaigns
Candidates to be above the law during campaigns
Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Presidential candidates and their running mates might not be held
accountable for any violations official campaign regulations that
may occur during campaign periods, a House of Representatives
special committee has agreed.
House legislators deliberating on the presidential election
bill proposed that any offense should be blamed on campaign
organizers.
Legislator Agun Gunandjar Sudarsa of The Golkar Party said on
Wednesday that the stipulation was designed to exempt the
presidential and vice presidential candidates from legal action
resulting from administrative violations, such as campaigning
during unscheduled days.
"This stipulation will make the presidential and vice
presidential candidates immune from the impact of administrative
offenses," Agun told the press here.
He added that presidential candidates and their running mates
could still be charged with violations of any criminal issues,
particularly bribery, vote buying or election fraud.
The campaign regulations will be decided upon in greater
detail by the General Elections Commission (KPU). The main
principle stipulates that those involved in the campaign process
must maintain public order and security, stick to designated
schedules for campaigning and conduct themselves in a manner
befitting of a president or vice president.
Apart from that agreement, legislators remain undecided on the
most contentious issues.
The tough issues are the requirements for presidential
candidates such as the 20 percent electoral threshold for
political parties who are allowed to nominate presidential
candidate, and the schedule of elections -- whether the elections
of legislators and president will be held simultaneously or not.
Legislators reached the decision after a series of meetings at
the House building, the Horison Hotel in North Jakarta and at the
Santika Hotel in Central Jakarta.
Previously, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI
Perjuangan) and the United Development Party (PPP) factions
proposed that each pair of presidential and vice presidential
candidates must be held responsible for their own campaigns.
However, after a series of negotiations and revisions to the
original draft, PDI Perjuangan and PPP factions accepted the
clause.
Article 16 of the bill drafted by the home ministry originally
states that presidential and vice presidential candidates will be
held accountable for campaign violations.
After a series of negotiations, the article was changed to:
candidate pairs will not be held accountable for violating the
technicalities, they will be the responsibility of the campaign
organizers.
According to Agun, the campaign organizers would come from
political parties and staff experts.
Barlianta Harahap, chairman of PPP faction who also
participated in the negotiation, added that campaign organizers
would consist of political party figures and nonpartisan figures.
The politicians would deal with the contents of the
presidential campaign while the nonpartisan figures would prepare
all administrative tasks, including schedules, locations and
equipment/facilities used.
"We may appoint media experts or professional campaigners to
make the program a success," he told The Jakarta Post.
Barlianta suggested that presidential candidates and their
running mates should publicly reveal their positions on all
issues.
He added that if the presidential and vice presidential
candidates rely too much on just their campaign organizers, it
would stifle communication with would-be constituents.