Kerosene sold to woo voters

SEMARANG: Political parties are relying on a variety of tricks to woo voters during the election campaign, including the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) in Semarang, the capital of Central Java province.

As the election is a few days away, the PKS has intensified its campaigning here by selling cheap kerosene to residents in Tambaklorok fishing village, North Semarang district.

Party officials sold some 2,500 liters of kerosene during a function on Thursday to Tambaklorok residents at a very low price, only Rp 500 per liter, way below the normal price of Rp 1,500.

"Each resident has been given a coupon to get the cheap kerosene. Each family can buy a maximum of 10 liters of kerosene," said Dawam, chairman of the Usaha Mina Group of fishermen in Tambaklorok.

The function was attended on Thursday by PKS leader Hidayat Nur Wahid, who held a meeting with local fishermen.

It is unclear whether the distribution of cheap kerosene can be categorized as vote buying. A similar move at the same location was made by the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) in the early part of the campaigning period, without complaint from the Election Supervisory Committee (Panwaslu). -- JP