Expert urges court ruling on ministers in campaign
JAKARTA (JP): A constitutional law expert has urged the Supreme Court to immediately issue a ruling to end the polemic on whether ministers should be allowed to campaign in the general election.
The court's ruling is the only way to overcome competing political interests, Sri Sumantri said on Sunday.
"It is better that all sides concerned should await a ruling from the Supreme Court on whether it will support the General Elections Commission's (KUP) decision to ban ministers to campaign," Sumantri, a professor at the School of Law in the Pajajaran University, told The Jakarta Post.
The commission, in deliberating the electoral code of conduct last week, barred all government officials, including ministers, from campaigning for their respective parties during the campaign season. Opposition to the recommended ban, which was reached through a vote among commission members, has come from both ministers and the ruling Golkar Party.
Last week President B.J. Habibie said he requested a ruling on the issue from the Supreme Court, adding he would obey whatever decision it made.
As of Sunday, there was no report of any progress from the Supreme Court. Sources said a meeting on the subject took place between Chief Justice Sarwata, KPU chairman Rudini and Habibie at the latter's residence on Thursday night.
On Friday Rudini announced KPU might rule that ministers who were chairman of parties would be exempted from the ban. Apart from Minister/State Secretary Akbar Tandjung who is chairman of Golkar, State Minister of Investment Hamzah Haz chairs the United Development Party.
Although Akbar said on Friday that Habibie would obey whatever the Supreme Court decided, he remarked on Saturday that he would campaign for Golkar if the President's permission was forthcoming.
"I will take unpaid leave to campaign and I will not use state facilities during the campaign," Akbar said in a gathering with the party's supporters in Lampung.
Officials and politicians have said there should be no problem with ministers' campaigning because it is common in other countries. However, the public outcry was stirred up by the strongly suspected practice of officials appropriating state facilities for electioneering in past campaigns.
Sumantri echoed the criticism of several political scholars who said the KPU should have consulted with Habibie, in his capacity as holder of the People's Consultative Assembly's mandate, before issuing its controversial ruling.
Rudini justified the ruling as part of the task entrusted to the body for establishing the electoral code of conduct. The ruling stated political parties were barred from recruiting state officials, including ministers, for campaigning.
Sumantri also urged the President and ministers to give priority to the nation's interests. However, he said a Supreme Court ruling would effectively resolve prevailing conflicts created by political interests.
"In the reform era, sticking to legal rulings should prevail instead of political interests, " he said.
However, a leading poll monitoring worker argued the President should issue the ruling to avoid unnecessary delays in the electioneering process.
Mulyana W. Kusumah, deputy of the Election Supervisory Committee, said the wait for the Supreme Court ruling would be too long. Many other preparations have yet to be completed ahead of the June polls.
Politician Abdurrahman Wahid said on Saturday the Supreme Court should heed demands made in the reform era, but also agreed that a presidential ruling would be a more expeditious solution.
Dimyati Hartono, deputy chairman of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), insisted that his party rejected the possibility of letting ministers campaign. He said KPU's ruling was "wise".
"The nation's experience of the 32-year New Order administration has proven that government officials could not separate their personal and national interests," Dimyati, a law professor, said in Semarang on Saturday.
Meanwhile in Kendari, Southeast Sulawesi, Antara reported that member of the Justice and Unity Party (PKP) board Sri Edi Swasono said the Supreme Court should seize the chance to "wash the mud off their faces and hands by siding with the people's wish (to ban ministers from campaigning)".
In Jakarta, a member of the National Commission on Human Rights Soetandyo Wignyosoebroto said particular guidelines needed to be drawn up if ministers were to be allowed to campaign.
They were needed to draw a distinction between ministers' interests as state officials and party cadres.
"The minister/state secretary (Akbar Tandjung) himself is facing such a difficulty. While wearing his uniform as minister, he talks about Golkar but while wearing his party's yellow uniform, he talks about his official duties," he said. (edt/har/rms)