KIPP reflects rise of civil society

KIPP reflects rise of civil society

Since its establishment on March 15, the Independent Election
Monitoring Committee (KIPP) has been making headlines. Kastorius
Sinaga sees this as a sign of the ascent of a civil society in
Indonesia.

JAKARTA (JP): Responses to the committee founded by a group of
independent-minded intellectuals are mixed. Some fear that it
could become a tool for a political movement that would mar next
year's general election. Others have spontaneously supported the
new non-governmental poll watchdog.

Fourteen similar independent poll watchdogs have since sprung
up in various provinces. Volunteers by the hundreds have
expressed their willingness to assist the committee in monitoring
the general election.

That it has won extensive support is of particular interest.

Like the Namfrel election monitoring body in the Philippines
that emerged in 1983, the committee has been set up by pro-
democracy non-governmental organizations. Its executive board
represents various pro-democracy NGOs nationwide, such as the
Indonesian Prosperous Labor Union, the Indonesian Students
Solidarity for Democracy, the Democratic People's Association,
the New Masyumi and the Legal Aid Institute.

In the provinces of Aceh, Yogyakarta, West Kalimantan and
Bali, NGOs promptly followed suit by setting up committee
branches. This is interesting because it explains the basic
change taking place in the realm of NGOs in Indonesia.

For the first time pro-democracy non-governmental groups in
Indonesia have closed ranks in forming a coalition through the
poll watchdog, leaving behind their usual sporadic and
compartmentalized nature. As a coalition of middle class and
progressive intellectuals, the committee comes close to being the
fulfillment of a dream long cherished by NGOs in Indonesia.

The founding of the new poll watchdog is closely related to
the people's increasing participation in politics. For decades
political participation has been reduced to serving the interests
of the government's development programs through the
implementation of the "floating mass" policy and the security
approach. In recent years there has been an increasing demand for
political reform. People have begun to challenge the government's
authority in the nation's political life.

The rising public resistance is characterized by a new reality
in the form of rival institutions against state-run institutions
like the Indonesian Farmers Committee, set up in 1992 to
challenge the government-sponsored Indonesian Farmers
Association, the Association of Independent Journalists
established to counter the official Indonesian Journalists
Association and the Indonesian Prosperous Labor Union, which
opposes the government sponsored All-Indonesia Workers Union
Federation.

In short, in these past five years government-backed
institutions, which are seen as tools of the state, have faced a
string of challenges.

The rival non-governmental institutions wish to accommodate
the aspirations and interests of the common people and to exert
some influence on state policies.

The Independent Election Monitoring Committee was born with
the zeal to improve the quality of democracy in a state based on
law in which the people's sovereignty stands supreme. Because
general elections are the basic instruments for the realization
of people's rights and sovereignty, safeguarding their quality is
of the utmost importance.

Like other state-run institutions, the official Election
Supervision Committee only serves the government's interests. A
survey of the 1992 general election by Dr. Alexander Irawan and
Endriana SH found that there were almost no sanctions imposed by
the government in the cases of the 900 instances of fraud
reported. This is understandable because of the 1,019 suspected
agents of fraud, 464, or 46 percent, were state bureaucrats.

In this context it is clear that the Independent Election
Monitoring Committee does not aim to discredit the official
supervision committee's work. It is simply a political indicator
showing the growing pressure for the establishment of a civil
society. Its existence implies that there exists a feeling that
the government's role should be reduced.

The writer is a lecturer in social sciences at the post-
graduate studies program of the University of Indonesia in
Jakarta.