Harmoko denies tampering with the election

Harmoko denies tampering with the election

JAKARTA (JP): Golkar chairman Harmoko yesterday denied
accusations that he has covertly made use of his visits to
several regions in the country to campaign for the ruling
political organization.

"I never campaign," he told Golkar members during a meeting
attended by 2,000 party cadres in Pontianak, West Kalimantan on
Wednesday.

"The accusation is exaggerated," he said as reported by the
Antara news agency.

The accusation was made by a senior member of the Indonesian
Democratic Party (PDI), Soenarjo, during a hearing between
Minister of Home Affairs Moch. Yogie S.M. and the Commission II
of the House of Representatives on Tuesday.

Soenarjo said Harmoko appeared almost every night on news
programs broadcast by the state-run TVRI and the privately-owned
stations, wearing the trademark color of Golkar, as he toured the
regions. Harmoko's TV appearances, he said, amounted to
electioneering in violation of consensus.

Harmoko is also the minister of information, a portfolio that
yields him control over the country's mass media, including the
television networks.

Harmoko however responded to the accusation by saying that his
trips to other regions were simply a move to consolidate Golkar's
strength.

He described the people who "invented" the accusation as those
"who do not have any idea about the Golkar organization."

Baseless

"The allegation that the Golkar chairman is conducting
concealed campaigns is simply baseless. What I've been doing is
meeting with cadres," he said as quoted by Antara yesterday.

Campaigning would mean soliciting support from non-Golkar
members, he said.

Meanwhile, Golkar has joined the drive to woo the disgruntled
members of the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) after their heavy defeat at
the recent United Development Party (PPP) congress.

Golkar deputy secretary general Ahmad Mustahid Astari said the
organization welcomes anyone from the NU who wish to join.

Many senior NU ulemas have threatened to abandon the PPP in
preference for PDI in the next general election in 1997 after the
congress early this month. NU, the largest faction in PPP, failed
to wrest the party's leadership which went to the incumbent
chairman Ismail Hasan Metareum.

Astari said Golkar sees a strong potential role for NU in the
organization.

He also pointed out that two prominent NU members, Chalid
Mawardi and Slamet Effendi Yusuf, are already in Golkar and hold
positions in the central executive board.

"Even NU chairman Abdurrahman Wahid is a holder of a Golkar
membership card," he said.

Minister of Home Affairs Moch. Yogie S.M. meanwhile ruled out
the establishment of a fourth political party as has been
suggested by the disgruntled NU ulemas.

Yogie told reporters yesterday that the ulemas' emotions had
been further fanned by various parties, including the mass media.

He said the 1985 Law on Political Organizations clearly ruled
that only three political organizations are allowed to contest
the leadership in general elections.

Anyone wishing to change this law should do so
constitutionally, he said.

He said he believed that NU, which has been pledging to quit
party politics since 1984, would not change its mind. "NU should
be consistent with its pledge," he said.

Yogie said that it would not become a problem for the
government if individuals affiliated with NU were involved in
practical politics. "It won't be a problem. We know the way NU
thinks," he added.

In Semarang, Central Java, noted ulema Sahal Mahfudz
reiterated that NU would never return to being a political party.

He said that the idea of establishing a new political party
came from ulemas in their capacity as individuals. "NU central
executive board never discusses such things," he said. (par/har)