Council receives complaints about PPP candidates
Council receives complaints about PPP candidates
JAKARTA (JP): A communication forum of native Jakartans has
opposed the nomination of three PPP members for the May general
election yesterday.
The Communication Forum of Betawi Younger Generation said the
nominees were not fit to represent native Jakartans.
The forum yesterday sent a delegation to the City Council to
express its concern and was received by councilor M. Rodja of the
PPP faction.
"As a faction member, I had to bring the complaints to
chairman of the PPP faction at the Council," Rodja said.
A statement issued by the communication forum names the three
nominees as Ismail Hasan Metareum, the party's chairman and the
first nominee for the Jakarta area, Rusjdi Hamka, chairman of
PPP's Jakarta branch and son of the country's most prominent
ulema -- the late Hamka, and Syarif Zulkarnaen Ginting, chairman
of the party's branch in East Jakarta.
Ismail is the party's candidate for the House, while Rusjdi
and Ginting are among the 150 candidates vying to become city
council members.
Councilor Rodja said the party should appreciate the
complaints.
"The complaints, whether true or not, show people's concern
about their future representatives," he said.
Later, the party could investigate the complaints, he said.
The communication forum's statement was signed by its chairman
Andi M. Sholeh and secretary Amirudin A. Ralli.
The statement said accepting the three nominees as candidates
would "defame native Jakartans".
The forum statement said Ismail had used his position to make
money, and not to fight for the party's goals.
It criticized Rusjdi for making a call to boycott the 1997
general election and for seeking nomination in two provinces:
Jakarta and West Sumatra.
It said Ginting had won his position by collusion and had
given a donation to an Islamic school using a check of Rp 5
million (US$2,087) that bounced.
Rodja said the forum had enclosed written proof of their
allegations, including the bounced check.
"If the complaints are true, the names of the nominees can be
lowered on the final nomination lists," he said.
The General Elections Institute announced 2,303 names on the
provisional list of House of Representatives candidates. The PPP
has 730 nominees, the ruling Golkar has 829 and the nationalist-
Christian alliance Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) has 744.
The public are allowed to scrutinize and raise objections to
the candidates. The time allocated for this purpose is between
Jan. 21 and Feb. 18. Afterward, the institute will announce the
final list of candidates.
Among the basic conditions of nominations are that candidates
must be at least 21 years old and have a clearance from the
government internal security agency over any links with the
outlawed Indonesian Communist Party. Reported links have been
used to strike candidates from final nomination lists.
The PPP, PDI and Golkar must draft their final nomination
lists between Feb. 19 and March 9.
The three groupings will contest the May 29 election, vying
for 425 of the 500 seats at the House of Representatives: 75
seats are reserved for members of the Armed Forces, who do not
vote.
At City Council, the 150 candidates are vying for 75 seats.
Currently 31 of the council's seats belong to the ruling party
Golkar, 15 for PPP, 14 for PDI, and 15 for ABRI's faction. (ste)