Election monitoring body receives support

Election monitoring body receives support

YOGYAKARTA (JP): Official opposition to an independent poll monitoring body will only deepen the widespread suspicion that the government has been less than honest in past elections, observers said yesterday.

Riswandha Imawan and Loekman Soetrisno, both scholars at Gadjah Mada University, said the government should accept the idea to prove its neutrality in managing next year's election.

"The presence of the body is a logical consequence of the privatization and democratization processes the government has rigorously been pursuing," Riswandha said.

The long-awaited independent poll watchdog was launched in Jakarta yesterday by a group of well-known activists to monitor the upcoming general election.

Armed Forces Commander Gen. Feisal Tanjung and chief of the ruling political grouping Golkar Harmoko publicly rejected the body even before it came into being.

Feisal and Harmoko singled it out as "unconstitutional" because it is not covered by the 1945 Constitution. Indonesia, they added, already has an official poll supervision committee.

The 1985 electoral law states that the general election is to be supervised by a committee, but it does not spell out the precise nature and tasks of the committee.

Riswandha said that an independent body, if accepted by the government, would improve Indonesia's image as a democratic country both at home and overseas.

"Apparently, the government fears that it will be able to reveal poll riggings. In fact, the government could use it to disprove the accusations," he said.

There is no reason for the government to be afraid of an independent body as long as it remains honest and neutral in the general election, he added.

The public at large, he continued, would understand the government's feeling if it were created to dissuade people from voting.

Loekman Soetrisno said he fully supports the idea and hopes the body will carry out its job professionally.

Although elections remain a sensitive issue in Indonesia, the government has no right to prevent citizens from participating in the monitoring, he said.

"I think the government should let the body prove that it is truly independent and professional," he said. (har/pan)