House urged to speed up deliberation of political bills

Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The General Elections Commission (KPU) has urged the House of Representatives to speed up the deliberation of several more political bills, warning that a delay in their endorsement would hamper preparations for the 2004 general elections.

KPU chairman Nazaruddin Syamsuddin said his commission could not work and, the general elections could not be held on time unless the House and the government passed the four bills into law.

The four being read by the House's special committees and the government were on general elections, presidential and vice presidential elections, composition of the House, provincial and regency legislatures and on the constitutional court.

"KPU will need a lot of time to make preparations, including the verification of new political parties, the registration of prospective voters and disseminating of the election procedure to the people across the country," he said in a hearing with House Commission II on home and legal affairs here on Monday.

All the political bills should have been endorsed by the end of 2002. Political interests have delayed the endorsement of the bills.

Nazaruddin conceded that a number of items on KPU's agenda had been delayed because of the absence of political laws.

He, however, added that his office would start voter registration, verification of political parties, printing documentary forms, ballots and other preparations.

Meanwhile, the House's special committee reading the electoral bill have been mired in a prolonged debate on the various electoral systems, electoral threshold and the restriction of government officials in election campaigns.

Many minor factions, for example, have opposed the electoral bill because they would not be allowed to contend in the next elections if the threshold of having at least 3 percent of 500 seats in the House is maintained.

Nazaruddin who was accompanied by his deputy Ramlan Surbakti and KPU secretary Safder Yusacc, disclosed that the budget for the 2004 elections would reach Rp 3.02 trillion (US$339 million).

Of that amount, some Rp 2.3 trillion ($254 million) will be used to finance operational costs in 2003.

The budget excludes Rp 585 billion ($65 million) allocated to finance the planned direct presidential and vice presidential elections.

"Remembering the great importance of the 2004 elections, we expect full support from the House," Nazaruddin added.

When asked about sources for the financing of the elections, Nazaruddin said that he hoped the funds could be raised from foreign loans and donations.

He said the foreign aid should be politically and economically non-binding to maintain fairness and the election commission's independence.

For this purpose, KPU is working in coordination with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) to organize foreign assistance for the elections both in terms of funds and technical assistance as it did in 1999.

During the hearing, some legislators called on KPU members to show their full commitment to the commission's mission. Agun Gunandjar Sudarsa of Golkar called on KPU members to leave their work outside the commission so that they could concentrate on the work of the commission.

Among the eleven members of KPU, nine are lecturers at various universities in Jakarta, Makassar in South Sulawesi and Surabaya in East Java.