Govt tightens up election procedures

Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Don't even think of setting up a political party if you lack the wherewithal to stand as a candidate in the 2004 general election.

Now, the General Elections Commission and the government are tightening the requirements for new political parties to participate in the 2004 general election.

Under the latest draft rules made public by the government, a new party must have Rp 150 million (over $14,000) in bank deposits in each province.

Another proposed requirement that was made public earlier is that new political parties should have branches in two-thirds of the country's provinces and in two-thirds of the regencies/municipalities in the respective provinces where they have branches.

"The deposits are necessary to make people aware that establishing a political party is a serious business. This will prevent people from setting up parties to make money like they would set up a company," Minister of Home Affairs Hari Sabarno said on Friday.

Indonesia currently has 48 political parties and, with an electoral threshold of 2 percent, only 11 of these have seats in the House of Representatives.

Last week, justice and human rights minister Yusril Ihza Mahendra reported that 300 new parties had been registered for selection by the elections commission. But this figure was whittled down to only 16 on Friday.

Hari said that the Rp 150 million deposit would be forfeited to the state in case the party failed to reach the electoral threshold.

The technical details, however, will depend on a constitutional amendment that is expected to be passed by November of next year. For example, if future elections are based on the district system, the money will have to be paid by the candidates themselves. However, if the proportional electoral system prevails, it is the party that will have to pay it.

Hari said that, basically, all citizens were free to set up political parties, but if the system were disorganized and there were "too many" parties, this would only serve to confuse the public.

"Even now when only 11 political parties have representation in the House, people are already confused," Hari said.

From 1973 until authoritarian president Soeharto fell in 1999, Indonesia had only three political parties.

The ministry and the General Elections Commission will begin discussing a revision of the political party laws on Nov. 26, 2001.

Commission deputy chairman Ramlan Surbakti said on Thursday that the tightened electoral rules were aimed at making politicians aware that the setting up of a new party was not something to be taken lightly.

"If they are not serious, then it is the state and the voters who will have to suffer the consequences," he said.