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)