Don't stop campaigning: Amien

UJUNGPANDANG (JP): Stopping the campaign for fear of more violence would have adverse political consequences, political observer Amien Rais said here yesterday.

"If campaigning is stopped... people could say that it has been defective, and that the (poll's) results are defective," he told The Jakarta Post.

He was commenting on suggestions that campaigning, especially street rallies, be stopped because it had caused many fatalities. The official death toll for campaign traffic accidents is at least 73.

There have also been many attacks and counterattacks by rival party supporters which have left people dead or seriously injured, property vandalized and an atmosphere of fear.

"We only have a few more campaign days to go, so all the poll contestants and security personnel must work as hard as possible to prevent violence," he said. "Let there be no more clashes."

National Commission on Human Rights' secretary-general, Baharuddin Lopa, called on the three parties' leaders to join street rallies to control their supporters.

"Don't just talk from high podiums, but mingle and manage supporters," he said at his office in Jakarta. "Campaigning is meaningless if it causes death and fear among the people."

He said that the rallies were not all bad because they were a democratic outlet which had encouraged people to express their opinions.

He was against stopping the campaign because it "would only cause clashes".

The Association of Catholic Students lodged a protest with the commission yesterday over the police questioning of two members in Ende, East Nusa Tenggara, for conducting a survey on the election.

Student spokesman Alfonsus B. Say said the police were wrong because surveying was not a crime.

Bernadus B. Daya and B. Gae Longa were questioned for five hours in Ende on May 1 by local prosecutors, and for four hours by local police.

They were accused of disrupting stability and order by distributing illegal leaflets.

The survey, with 500 respondents, found that 26 percent of people would not vote, 25 percent would vote Golkar, 14 percent would vote United Development Party and 17 percent would vote Indonesian Democratic Party. (37/05/swe)