Election failed to promote democracy: CSIS survey

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia's general election this year failed to live up to its ideal purpose of encouraging democratization, according to a recent survey by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

The report said that most of the poll respondents concluded that the election saw no improvement, and may have been a setback, compared to previous ones.

"There have been many indications of violations to the principle of a direct, general, secret, fair and just election," said T.A. Legowo who presented the survey in a seminar.

The survey was conducted randomly on both formal and informal leaders in 23 municipalities in Java and Madura plus another 294 respondents who subscribed to the Tempo Interaktif webpage. The center also used field observation and analyzed data gathered from various printed media.

Also attending the seminar was the newly-inducted assistant to chief of the Armed Forces sociopolitical affairs, Maj. Gen. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Legowo said that the right to hold a general election had exclusively belonged to the government, with the role of poll contestants being reduced to a mere formality.

"Domination of government officials and Armed Forces officers in the election committee line-up has restricted the participation of political parties and the public. This confirms the possibility of vote-rigging and other violations," Legowo said.

The report said that protests over vote-rigging allegations in the Madura town of Sampang and other East Javanese towns and the last minute increase of Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) votes in North Sumatra were an indication of irregularities.

A voting rerun at 66 polling stations in Sampang was prompted by the government in response to the protests. Riots broke out in Sampang and other Madura towns of Pamekasan and Bangkalan during polling day on May 29 over vote-rigging allegations.

Riswandha Imawan, another speaker in the seminar, revealed that all votes for PDI in 26 provinces other than North Sumatra "dropped" despite the General Election Institute's earlier announcement that there would not be any change in the then provisional election results except for Jakarta, East Java and Irian Jaya.

His data shows that PDI votes in Central Kalimantan suffered a severe decline with 35,802 votes. PDI votes in North Sumatra soared from 331,314 to 395,583, enabling the province to add one more House of Representatives seat to its previous achievement of 10.

CSIS's research also concluded that this year's election was the worst ever in the New Order era in terms financial loss and fatalities that were claimed.

Some 273 people died in riots and election-related accidents during the campaign period from April 27 to May 22.

Political analyst Alexander Irwan, who also spoke in the seminar, said this year's general election saw a significant increase in public control through informal channels.

He said public control could be inferred from the printed media reports on "vote-rigging" and "intimidation" which had increased by 950 percent and 700 percent respectively compared to reports in the 1992 election.

Alexander also noted an increased number of reports on people protesting the election process from one in 1992 to 25 in 1997. Reports on violence in the election numbered 28 in 1997 with none five years ago.

The center finally suggested that in the future the government should treat general elections not only as a means to maintain the status-quo and its legitimacy, but also as a mechanism to accommodate public aspirations. Otherwise, "this nation will slide even deeper into political decay," the center concluded.

Another speaker, Syamsuddin Haris of the National Institute of Sciences, said the recent election served as a lesson.

Indonesia should use it as momentum to usher in political reform which includes the establishment of an alternative party, introduction of a modified district system in the next election and abolition of the floating mass policy, he said.

The reform needed also includes a revision of the Armed Forces' dual role, which leads to democratization and a limitation of the presidential term, Haris said. (hbk/amd)