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)