Habibie greets EU election monitors

Habibie greets EU election monitors

JAKARTA (JP): President B.J. Habibie thanked the European
Union (EU) on Tuesday for dispatching a 135-member team to
observe the June 7 general election, saying their presence would
contribute significantly to Indonesia's campaign to hold free and
fair elections.

"I hope that during your stay in our country, you will learn
how the real conditions are," he told the EU team, led by John
Gwyn Morgan, at Merdeka Palace.

The President assured the European observers the upcoming
elections would be fair and internationally acceptable.

"I'm committed to the 1945 Constitution," the President said.

Habibie renewed his commitment to a direct presidential
election by 2004, saying it is unfair to give responsibility for
the fate of the country to 700 members of the People's
Consultative Assembly (MPR).

Almost all of the registered 528 foreign observers have
arrived and are ready to monitor Monday's general election, said
an official at the United Nations Development Program (UNDP)
Election Facilitation Center on Tuesday.

Susan Archibald, a UNDP poll technical adviser, said the
foreign observers would be grouped under 14 international
institutions, among them the EU, the American Chamber of
Commerce, the Asian Network for Free Elections (Anfrel) and the
Australian government.

Other delegations include the International Republican
Institute, the Japanese government, the National Citizen Movement
for Free Elections (Namfrel), the National Democratic Institute-
Carter Center (NDI-Carter Center) and the New Zealand Embassy.

An NDI-Carter Center press statement said on Tuesday it would
deploy a team of about 100 observers to monitor the elections.
The team, whose duties are to observe the voting, ballot-
counting and the transmission of the election results to the
election data updating center, will be led by former U.S.
president Jimmy Carter.

The statement said that most of the delegation members will
arrive on Thursday. Meanwhile, a source at the Center told The
Jakarta Post that Carter would arrive on Saturday and observe the
elections in the greater Jakarta are.

Delegation members, who will be divided into 45 groups, will
attend a two-day joint briefing by the General Elections
Committee and party representatives in 26 provinces, excluding
East Timor, before leaving for their designated deployment sites.

Delegation members include former U.S. ambassador to Indonesia
Paul Wolfowitz, Asia Foundation president William Fuller, Carter
Center expert on Indonesia Dwight King, NDI president for
International Affairs Kenneth Wollack, former South African
leader Tokyo Sexwale, South Korean parliament members Keun Tae
Kim and Sang Woo Kim, Mexican Congress member Santiago Creel and
secretary-general of Singapore's Democratic Party Chee Soon Juan.

Most Anfrel observers also have arrived here. Anfrel local
staff member Mega Christina said they would leave on Tuesday for
their deployment at sites in 18 provinces, including Aceh, West
Kalimantan and Maluku provinces, where hundreds have been killed
in violence in recent months.

"However, no specific areas in Aceh have been mentioned as
they (observers) are still working out their security
arrangements," said Mega, an activist of the Asian Network for
Democracy in Indonesia.

Anfrel will be the only foreign observer group to monitor the
elections in East Timor.

Meanwhile, Imelda Hutapea of Namfrel said the Philippine-based
organization would not send its observers to Aceh, but she did
not disclose the reason.

Japan announced on Tuesday it would send 20 observers to
monitor the elections and also provide US$10 million financial
assistance for the autonomy ballot in East Timor scheduled in
August.

"The government of Japan decided to dispatch 20 election
observers, headed by ambassador Sumio Edamura, former ambassador
to Indonesia," said a foreign ministry statement.

The observers will arrive on Thursday for about one week.

Meanwhile, two EU observers have been touring Lampung and its
surrounding regions since last week to monitor preparations for
Monday's general election.

They met with local activists of the Independent Election
Monitoring Body (KIPP), the Rectors Forum and the University
Network for Free and Fair Elections (Unfrel).

Extra lines

In a bid to ensure the smooth and instantaneous transmission
of election results, the International Foundation for Election
System (IFES) and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP)
have requested 150 telephone and 50 facsimile lines from state-
owned telecommunication company PT Telkom.

PT Telkom's vice president Dodi Amarudien was quoted as saying
by Antara in Bandung on Tuesday that lines would be installed at
Aryaduta Hotel in Jakarta, where all international monitoring
institutions are pooled for updated reports of election results
nationwide.

Dodi said PT Telkom also provides similar services for the
public through the toll-free telephone number 08001666666 and
facsimile number 08001444444. (prb/anr/byg/imn)