Experts doubtful of indoor pool campaign

Experts doubtful of indoor pool campaign

By Haryoso

SEMARANG (JP): Two political analysts have welcomed the
proposal to move election campaigns indoors for security and
public order reasons, but they doubt whether the move will be
effective in enhancing communication between the parties and
voters if it is adopted next year.

Despite describing dialog campaigning as an idea whose time
has come because it encourages communication, Riswandha Imawan of
Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta said it should not be
adopted in the 1997 election because of a lack of preparation,

"There isn't much time left for the preparation," Riswandha
told The Jakarta Post. "If the election contestants are forced to
accept the idea, Golkar will be accused of forcing its will on
the other two contestants as the scheme would work to its
advantage."

Soehardjo S.S., a political professor at Semarang's Diponegoro
University, suggested that a mixture of outdoor mass rallies and
indoor dialogs would be the best solution for next year's
election campaigns.

In the regions, people still regard the campaign period as a
"party time" held once every five years, he said.

President Soeharto has commissioned the National Council for
Defense and Security to come up with methods of campaigning that
are less likely to lead to the security disturbances and
disorderliness normally associated with outdoor mass rallies.

Soeharto asked the council to draft the election campaign
regulations in time for the campaign period which is slated for a
month beginning at the end of April.

Election campaigns in 1992 were dominated by mass rallies held
outdoors, sometimes involving long motorcades taking the
campaigners and their supporters to the venues. TV ads were also
employed in a limited way but they were not deemed effective in
communicating with voters.

Golkar, vying for an even bigger landslide victory than the 68
percent of the vote it won in 1992, has suggested that the mass
rallies be replaced by indoor dialogs, allowing candidates to
meet and discuss various issues with potential voters.

Golkar has stressed that these gatherings are preferable to a
forum where representatives of the three contestants are put in
one room to debate election issues before a large crowd.

The United Development Party (PPP) and the Indonesian
Democratic Party (PDI) have not objected to the call for a more
orderly campaign.

Both Riswandha and Soehardjo said there are limits to the
effectiveness of dialogs as proposed by Golkar.

Riswandha said that for a dialog to be effective, the speaker
and the audience must be on the same wave length. A professor, he
said, would not necessarily be able to communicate his ideas
clearly if he was speaking to a poorly-educated audience, he
suggested.

In short, he said, the audience in an election dialog campaign
must possess sufficient intellect to receive and digest the
information given by the campaigners.

Riswandha said that dialogs would be more effective in big
cities than in villages.

He also doubted that these dialogs would immediately lead to
effective two-way communications between the campaigners and
their audience.

"These people have long been isolated from the political and
decision-making processes. You can't expect them to suddenly turn
active. These things take time," he said.

Riswandha also warned that while Golkar could mobilize people
to attend its dialogs, PPP and PDI will have a harder time
because people are afraid of being accused of supporting the two
minority parties if they turn up at their dialogs.

"If I go to PPP or PDI dialogs, I would immediately be branded
a supporter," he said.

While arguing that the campaign period should be equally
divided between outdoor rallies and indoor meetings, Soehardjo
said the campaign themes for outdoor rallies should be
scrutinized so that they do not incite the participants.

"They should not become unsolicited free-speech forums," he
said.

Soehardjo also suggested that debates, allowing election
contestants to address the same crowd, rather than dialogs should
be introduced.