Enraged PPP to protest to military over screening

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)