Foreigners to be barred from investigating election

JAKARTA (JP): The government will not allow the invited foreign observers to investigate or pass judgment on the May 29 general election, an official said yesterday.

Soetojo N.K., director general of sociopolitical affairs at the Ministry of Home Affairs, said that the foreigners would be considered to be meddling in Indonesia's internal affairs if they went beyond the granted privilege of observing the polls.

"We're letting foreigners come to see how the election proceeds, but it is our right to judge the election. We did not do anything but watch when we were invited by the governments of neighboring countries to observe their elections," said Soetojo, also secretary-general of the General Elections Institute.

He said the government was completing the registration of invitees, who are likely to come from Southeast Asian countries. "Not all countries will be invited, but Malaysia, Singapore and our other neighbors will be for sure," he said.

He did not say how many foreign observers would be invited to monitor the election.

The general election will be contested by the dominant political group Golkar, the United Development Party and the Indonesian Democratic Party.

It will be Indonesia's first election to be monitored by foreign observers. The decision appears to be a compromise to the two minority parties, which have complained about irregularities in all the past elections.

Soetojo said that the government would give free access to observers to monitor the various stages of the election, especially the voting, but only to the foreigners who had received formal invitations.

"Other foreigners may come as tourists, but we will not serve them the way we plan to entertain our formal guests," Soetojo said.

According to Soetojo. the rules set for foreign observers will also affect the Independent Election Monitoring Committee, an independent election watchdog led by the former editor of the now defunct Tempo weekly magazine, Goenawan Mohamad.

"We don't need to invite them because they are Indonesian citizens. They, as well as other non-governmental organizations, have the right to give inputs to us but only through the proper channels.

But they would not be allowed to intervene in the election proceedings," Soetojo said.

He said the government would let the foreigners decide where they wanted to go, but the final destinations would be decided in the light of the facilities the government could provide.

"There will be 300,000 polling booths throughout the archipelago. It will be difficult for us to just comply with all of their wishes," he said.

Soetojo dismissed fears that those who were dissatisfied with the general election would intercept and lodge their complaints with the foreigners.

"We hope it will not happen. The plan remains an idea, and we are now thinking about its implementation. We will make sure everything runs well," Soetojo said.

He added that the government would learn from the upcoming polls. "It will be our seventh election, and the sixth under the New Order, this May. But all efforts to improve this election compared to previous ones will be made," he said. (amd)

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