Govt hardens stance on poll body

JAKARTA (JP): After weeks of controversy and a number of contradictory official statements, the government made clear unequivocally yesterday that it does not welcome the newly- established Independent Election Monitoring Committee (KIPP).

"The government does not need this," head of the official Election Supervision Committee Singgih said after meeting President Soeharto to whom he reported the completion of some of the early stages of the general elections.

"The Independent Election Monitoring Committee may observe the ballot casting, but its members may not check anything, or enter polling booths," Singgih, who is also the Attorney General, said.

He said the official poll supervision body was quite enough, as it already represents the three political contestants -- Golkar, the United Development Party and the Indonesian Democratic Party -- as well as the government.

"We don't need this body or any other body like it," he argued, adding that only the Election Supervision Committee has the legal right to monitor the general elections.

The independent poll body was established last month by some 50 intellectuals, human rights campaigners and government critics. Lamenting the violations in the previous five general elections, the founders said they planned to monitor all stages of the 1997 poll.

Military and civil officials were split in their comments on the body, whose establishment has now spawned other independent watchdogs, a new phenomenon in Indonesian political history.

The Association of Islamic Students (HMI) warned its members against joining any independent poll watchdogs.

"Those who have already joined should quit or face punishment," chairman Taufik Hidayat said in a press conference. "This is the organization's official stance which must be followed by all members."

The student organization, which used to be influential, particularly in the heyday of the anti-establishment movement in the 1960s, did not specify what kind of punishment is to be meted out to dissenting members.

"It'll depend on the violation," Taufik said. He denied that this stance was taken to counter the Independent Election Monitoring Committee.

The organization, with its 250,000 members across the country, would not support the independent poll watchdog because it was planning to supervise the general elections itself, he said.

Taufik claimed the organization had been active in the monitoring of the previous general elections, and had found evidence of violations. He failed to elaborate.

HMI would not support KIPP or other poll bodies since the organization would also be monitoring the 1997's general election, Taufik said.

Although Taufik claimed that the organization had also monitored the previous elections, he was unable to come up with reports of its findings. "We lack documentation," he said.

He also denied reports that some of the organization's branches, including those in Jakarta, Surabaya, Ujungpandang, Bandung, Yogyakarta and Semarang, had affiliated themselves with local branches of KIPP.

Anas Urbaningrum, a colleague of Taufik, said the organization would report the results of its monitoring of the 1997 general elections to the official Election Supervision Committee, and to the three political groupings. (swe/01)

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