Govt plans to let ex-PKI members vote in '97
Govt plans to let ex-PKI members vote in '97
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia is stable enough to bear the possible consequences of its plan to allow over a million former sympathizers of the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) to vote, a cabinet minister said yesterday.
"It the government were not confident enough of stability, how could it have agreed ?" Coordinating Minister of Political Affairs and Security Soesilo Soedarman told journalists.
The plan to allow 1,157,820 former PKI members and supporters to cast ballots in next year's election was made public by spokesman for the Home Affairs H.S.A. Yusacc on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, 20,706 other PKI members and supporters will still be denied their right to vote due to a higher degree of involvement in the party, which was banned after it was blamed for the bloody coup attempt in 1965, Yusacc said.
In 1992, the government allowed 1.3 million people with past links with the PKI to cast their ballots in that year's poll.
Yusacc said the eligibility of former deputy prime minister and foreign minister Subandrio, former air force chief Omar Dhani and former police intelligence chief Soegeng Soetarto released from jail last year was not considered.
Soesilo said the ministry of home affairs has consulted various related agencies, such as ABRI, on the plan. "Everything has been weighed up carefully," he said.
Meanwile, Armed Forces Commander Gen. Feisal Tanjung said yesterday that details of the plan are still being worked out.
The authorities, he said, should look at the list of all former PKI members and supporters to see if more deserve the right to vote next year.
Former PKI supporters live all across Indonesia.
In East Nusa Tenggara, 13,209 former PKI activists will be allowed to cast their votes, according to chief of the provincial government's socio-political affairs Rahmat Idin.
Idin said in the capital Kupang they are permitted to go to poll because they have displayed "good conduct" and loyalty to the government. (pan/yac)