Final vote results not endorsed by all parties

JAKARTA (JP): Five representatives of political parties at the Jakarta Provincial Elections Committee (PPD I) either refused to endorse or were absent from the endorsing of the final vote results in the city on Monday.

Chairman of the Jakarta chapter of the Indonesian Masyumi Islamic Political Party (PPIM) Harun Al Rasyid firmly said he would not sign the results because of allegations of rigging and fraud.

He based his statement on a sampling survey conducted by a committee team at 509 out of 10,198 polling places. The survey concluded that poll data validity was only 37 percent.

"We can say that, based on the survey, the remaining 63 percent of the vote results is haram (forbidden according to Islamic law), I can't account for it to God and our voters," he said.

A similar view was shared by Islamic Community Party (PUI) chairman Tony Brawijaya who said he would wait until there was a guarantee that the parties' objections (on alleged vote-rigging and fraud) would really be attached to the results when it was submitted to the National Elections Committee.

"There is still time, until tomorrow morning, to sign the results. Our party will first discuss it further," he said.

Besides PPIM and PUI, other parties' representatives which did not sign the results were from the Democratic People's Party (PRD), the Indonesian Democrats Alliance Party (PADI) and the Indonesian Democratic Union Party (PUDI).

However, representatives of the three parties could not be reached for comment on Monday as they were absent from the meeting.

The results were also not endorsed by representatives of the Muslim Community Awakening Party (PKU), the Democratic Catholic Party (PKD) and the Murba Party because their representatives were fired by their parties' chairmen due to internal problems, said committee chairman Djafar Badjeber.

Djafar said he would take the results to the PPI on Tuesday, a day later than previously scheduled.

He also said PPI had given direction that the Stembus Akkoord, a mechanism allowing parties to pool their leftover votes to win remaining seats, should not be applied until problems over arrangements were solved.

On Saturday, PPD I announced the vote results that the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle was assured 29 of the 76 city council seats contested followed by the United Development Party (13 seats), the National Mandate Party (13 seats), Golkar (seven), the Justice Party (three), the National Awakening Party (two) and the Crescent Star Party (one).

Through the Stembus Akkord, another three parties -- the Justice and Unity Party, the United Party and the Indonesian Unity and Diversity Party -- would each gain one seat.

Total seats at the council is 85, including nine given to the Indonesian Military.

Comment

Separately, city officials and councilors welcomed the general election victory of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), which grabbed 30 of the 76 seats on offer in the City Council.

Speaking to The Jakarta Post on Monday, two deputy governors and two city councilors, however, warned the future councilors about chronic corruption in the city administration.

They also suggested the new councilors be extra careful in electing a replacement for current Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso, whose term is scheduled to end in 2002.

"It's a big responsibility. Councilors will face opportunities for corruption. They could be offered bribes, in the form of cash money or future projects," councilor Ali Wongso Sinaga of Commission D for development affairs said.

Ali said future councilors should have a thorough knowledge of the administration to allow them to deal with the corruption they will most likely face.

"If they are thorough, they will know that corruption here is decades-old and administration officials are professionals in committing such misdeeds," he said.

"The would-be councilors should also forget about simply collecting evidence and handing it to the City Inspectorate Office because nobody in the administration is immune from corruption."

Ali suggested new councilors provide as much information as possible to the media.

Meanwhile, deputy governors Abdul Kahfi for administrative affairs and Fauzie Alvi Yasin for economic and financial affairs congratulated PDI Perjuangan on its "big win".

"It's a big win. They (PDI Perjuangan) must be happy," Kahfi said.

"Let's just hope they know what they will be handling in the near future. Jakarta is not an easy city to run ... they should know that by now," he said.

According to Fauzie, the new councilors should focus on being "critical" in order to protect the city budget from "unnecessary projects".

Councilor Lukman Mokoginta of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) said he was "quite happy" PDI Perjuangan, which is a breakaway faction of PDI, won the majority of seats in the council.

"It's a refreshing change. That's what Indonesians need," Lukman, who is rumored to be planning to sever his ties with the faction he currently leads to join PDI Perjuangan, said.

He suggested future councilors focus on city development, particularly building low-cost apartment blocks.

"I am referring to development targeted at middle to lower- class people," he said.(ind/ylt)