Govt says campaign must go on

JAKARTA (JP): Despite heightening tension and widespread fears of more violence, the government is allowing the three parties to continue campaigning.

Minister of Home Affairs Moch. Yogie S.M. said yesterday he understood public worries about further unrest but stressed that campaigning would not be terminated until the end of the scheduled period on Friday.

But he said that in the remaining four days the campaigning should take the form of indoor dialogs and that street rallies were strictly banned.

Yogie acknowledged that the recent violence in Jakarta, Yogyakarta and several Central Java towns had exceeded the tolerable limit.

"It's a mistake to say that the violence was acceptable," Yogie said in a message relayed to journalists by his spokesman H.S.A Yusacc.

The minister said the government meant to stick to the original consensus with the three contestants, the United Development Party (PPP), Golkar and the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI), that the campaigning period was from April 27 to May 23.

Yogie said no contestant had asked the government to terminate the campaign.

Fears of more open conflict among the parties have been aggravated after Golkar's street rallies in Jakarta, Yogyakarta and Central Java on Sunday disintegrated into brawls with PPP supporters.

Today, the Moslem-backed PPP is scheduled to hold indoor rallies across Java, Maluku and Irian Jaya.

Deployment

Jakarta PPP chief Rusjdi Hamka said yesterday the party would deploy more party security personnel to coordinate with the police and military to secure the PPP's campaigning.

He said the party was well aware that most of the PPP supporters would be unlikely to comply with Saturday's agreement to hold only indoor rallies attended a limited number of participants.

"So I call on all the security personnel, who have been doing their jobs extremely well so far, not to let our supporters roam all over the place. Help us guide them to the campaigning sites," Rusjdi said.

Most of yesterday's campaigning proceeded without serious incident. PDI supporters reportedly ran riot in the Irian Jaya capital of Jayapura yesterday. They vandalized buildings and threw stones at the police after hearing rumors a party supporter had been shot dead by a police officer.

PPP deputy chairman Jusuf Syakir said his party rejected any calls to stop campaigning, arguing the security authorities were in firm control.

But he agreed that if people wanted a shorter campaigning period, the government and the parties should discuss it for the next election, scheduled for 2002.

Jusuf said he saw no strong reason why the campaign should be stopped.

"I see no anxiety among the people. I see happiness in their faces," he said. "Of course there are always unwanted aspects to every game ..."

The government's insistence on continuing the campaigning received support from the Independent Election Supervision Committee (KIPP) and an activist of the National Commission on Human Rights.

KIPP Secretary-General Mulyana W. Kusumah said that street rallies and indoor dialogs were a good political education for the public, especially for would-be first-time voters.

"Street rallies remain a good method for the parties to attract potential voters," he said.

National Commission on Human Rights member Muladi said in Semarang yesterday that indoor dialogs should continue otherwise people who wanted to see the election fail would have won.

Muladi, who is also rector of the Semarang-based Diponegoro University, said he believed the unrest in various areas had been triggered by interest groups wanting to topple President Soeharto unconstitutionally.

"I believe the groups do exist. I have seen anonymous leaflets circulating on campuses and other public places -- all suggesting that such a plot is real," he said.

Jakarta Police Spokesman Lt. Col. E. Aritonang refused yesterday to give details on the number of victims or violations that had occurred during the latest three days of campaigning.

"Let's support the three organizations' commitment to cool down. Let's not expose the number of violations committed by each or all the three organizations," Aritonang said.

Speaking about the Police's preparations for today's campaigning in Jakarta, Aritonang said the City Police would not reduce the number of its personnel on the streets. Ten thousand policemen have been deployed in Jakarta to safeguard the campaign. (imn/aan/nur/cst/ste/38/har)

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