Elections and civil

Elections and civil
servants' votes

From Media Indonesia

A recent story in the papers reported the public's pessimism
about the role of civil servants in the upcoming general
election.

It was reported that about 40 percent of civil servants are
members of the Corps of Civil Servants of the Republic of
Indonesia and will vote for the Golkar Party. The rest will vote
for other parties.

In my opinion, however, the results of the 1999 elections
showed that our civil servants could be considered neutral. If
they had not assumed a neutral stance, Golkar would have secured
more votes from civil servants. However, Golkar received fewer
votes from civil servants in several provinces in Java and
Sumatra. Clearly, civil servants voted for other political
parties.

Regarding the 2004 elections, Golkar has never said that civil
servants should vote for Golkar. On the other hand, some new and
old parties have fielded civil servants as legislative
candidates. This is in violation of the government regulation
prohibiting civil servants from taking part in political
activities, either as members of a political party or as members
of a party's executive board.

VELERY E. SETIAWAN

Bengkulu