KIPP wants campaign victims compensated

KIPP wants campaign victims compensated

JAKARTA (JP): The Independent Election Monitoring Committee
(KIPP) called yesterday for the establishment of special
institutions and funds to support victims of campaign melees.

A statement from the unofficial poll watchdog said the
institutions were needed "urgently" because of the brutal clashes
since campaigning began on April 27.

"It's increasingly urgent that institutions be established to
provide legal aid for judicial matters that arise during the
election," said the statement signed by the committee's
secretary-general, Mulyana W. Kusumah.

The statement said a special institution had to be set up with
the sole humanitarian objective of helping victims of
campaigning, such as those hurt in traffic accidents or by
violence.

The government has banned parades and introduced new rules to
force the parties to focus on discussions rather than outdoor
rallies but their supporters keep taking to the streets in large
convoys. This has caused accidents and terrible traffic jams in
Jakarta and other major cities.

Overzealous supporters have rampaged in several towns,
wrecking entertainment centers and shops.

Kompas daily reported that, in the first three rounds of
campaigning, 27 people had died in campaign-related incidents.

The trail of destruction continued yesterday as two people in
Bogor, West Java, were seriously injured when Golkar supporters
took to the streets.

Rasiyem, 40, had his leg broken when he was hit by a
motorcycle in a Golkar convoy.

Another casualty, 11-year-old Adi Sofyan, fell off a truck.
Adi is being treated for head injuries at the Indonesian Red
Cross Hospital in Bogor.

Meanwhile in Ujungpandang, South Sulawesi, the city mayor
revealed yesterday that damage from the first four rounds of
campaigning could have cost the city more than Rp 650 million
(US$282,608).

Mayor Malik B. Masry said that the damage bill in the first
two rounds reached Rp 257 million, and in the last two rounds was
estimated at Rp 400 million. The worst violence occurred when a
group rampaged destroying 27 shops in a day.

Malik was speaking after providing the final portion of Rp
10.5 million in campaign funding aid to each of the three
parties.

The Wirabuana regional military command's chief, Maj. Gen.
Agum Gumelar, said that all three parties had been guilty of
campaign infractions in Sulawesi. (mds/24/37)