KPU casts doubt on 2004 general election

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Members of General Election Commission (KPU) expressed their doubt on Monday that the next elections would take place in 2004 as scheduled mainly due to legal technicalities.

In a meeting with Vice President Hamzah Haz at his office, the KPU delegates said they could not exercise the authority they needed to begin the preparations for the election because of the absence of laws on elections and political parties.

"Our current job is guessing what the country's electoral system will be. We cannot even establish our branches in provinces and regencies because the laws are not there yet. We do not have the authority or the money," KPU member Imam Prasodjo told reporters after the meeting with Hamzah.

"That's why we've come to the President and Vice President to ask whether this government is serious in establishing the general election commission."

The KPU delegation was led by its chairman Nazaruddin Syamsoeddin.

The commission has repeatedly said it will take it two years to prepare a fair and just election.

Currently the government is finalizing the supporting draft laws. It argues that the drafts cannot be presented to the House of Representatives for deliberation due to the continuing delay of the 1945 Constitution amendment on the new system of presidential election and legislative body at the People's Consultative Assembly.

Nazaruddin said the bills could be submitted to the House without waiting for the amendment, unless the uncertainty was prolonged.

"I hope the two bills, currently being finalized at the Ministry of Home Affairs, would be endorsed before June," Nazaruddin said.

Imam said that KPU needed the laws to start its program immediately, so it could work without being pressed for time prior to the elections.

Lack of funds is another problem KPU is facing, Nazaruddin said.

He said the commission would need a total of Rp 3 trillion (US$300 million) to finance the general election process and the government has not yet provided the money. Nazaruddin did not elaborate what the whopping amount of money was for.

During the meeting with Hamzah, Nazaruddin also said KPU planned to hold preliminary registration for 25 percent of eligible voters in August this year, in a bid to establish a database of prospective voters.

According to the current election law, a physically and mentally healthy citizen at least 17 years of age, or younger but married, is eligible to vote.

"But the registration can only be conducted if the government disburses the funds for us immediately," Nazaruddin said.

He insisted that the government's support for KPU was crucial.

"A general election is one of the government's programs. Should it fail, then it means the current government also fails," Nazaruddin said.