Enraged PPP to protest to military over screening

SEMARANG (JP): Enraged United Development Party (PPP) leaders in Central Java are planning to lodge protests with the military for disqualifying some of its legislative candidates because of their suspected past links with communism.

Djuhad Mahja, a deputy chief of the PPP Central Java chapter, said yesterday the reason to drop the party's candidates was suspicious.

"It's funny, some of those who failed the screening have been legislative council members in their regencies for five years since they passed the same screening in 1992," he said.

He considered that the legislative council members disqualified from the PPP candidate list were outspoken critics of government policies.

"I will go to the Central Java office of the internal security agency (Bakorstanasda) and seek an official explanation," Djuhad said.

The security agency is authorized to conduct the controversial screening, which is primarily aimed at determining whether a prospective legislator has past links with the outlawed Indonesian Communist Party (PKI).

The government has made the screening, locally called Litsus, mandatory for all candidates of legislative councils in the provinces and for all nominees for the House of Representatives.

The Moslem-oriented PPP will contest seats in the councils and the House in next year's election against the ruling Golkar party and the Indonesian Democratic Party.

Djuhad said he did not know the exact number of his politicians who had failed the screening, but he claimed he knew of 11 legislative candidates in one regency who were disqualified.

"In each of the other regencies, between four and six candidates have been reported to have failed it," he added.

"If our assumption that they had their names scrapped simply because they are outspoken is true, it is lamentable," he said. "Not only does it blemish the Armed Forces' image, it is also bad for the development of democracy in Indonesia. Screening is no school exam"

News of the many candidates failing the screening has added to the blow that the conservative PPP suffered when several prominent Moslem leaders in Central Java refused to be nominated as its legislative candidates.

The Moslem leaders affiliated with Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), Indonesia's largest Moslem organization, claim they have been sidelined by the PPP, their traditional political base.

They were offended when their names were put at the bottom of the party's list of candidates, meaning that their chances for seats were slim.

One of the popular figures is Cholil Bisri, who is nominated as a candidate for the House of representatives.

Cholil accused PPP chief Ismail Hasan Metareum of "disrespecting" the Nahdlatul Ulama, one of the four factions that make up the party.

"I'd rather withdraw from the candidacy than be humiliated," Cholil said.

Mursalim Ridlo, a senior NU official from Central Java, said in Jakarta on Tuesday that his organization was "very disappointed" with Ismail Hasan.

He said the PPP boss had tried to sideline the NU by selecting legislative candidates unknown to the people they would represent.

For example, the PPP executive board nominated Ali Parasong from the Muslimin Indonesia political organization for the Banyumas constituency even though the people in that regency did not know him. (har/pan)