KPU members to visit provinces to monitor poll preparations

JAKARTA (JP): The General Elections Commission (KPU) will recess so its 63 members can tour provinces and regencies in order to ensure smooth preparations for the June 7 general election.

Hasballah M. Saad, a representative of the National Mandate Party (PAN) on the commission, told The Jakarta Post here on Friday the commission would be on recess from Monday to Wednesday next week. Members will be deployed to monitor preparations by elections committees in provinces and regencies.

"Their main mission will be to monitor and settle problems," he said after a plenary session of the commission here on Friday.

Hasballah, also deputy chairman of the National Elections Committee (PPI), said the commission also would look into antielection propaganda in Irian Jaya, Aceh and riots-torn regions such as Ambon in Maluku and Sambas in West Kalimantan.

"The antielection propaganda has been launched by certain groups which are fighting for the provinces' independence and groups which want to create chaos in the country," he said.

The elections commission said last week 50 percent of all elections preparations had been completed.

Minister of Home Affairs Syarwan Hamid and KPU chairman Rudini are in East Nusa Tenggara and Bali to monitor poll preparations in the two provinces.

Syarwan warned against certain groups who were seeking to foil the elections.

"Groups and individuals who want to foil the polls are betrayers of the nation and they must face legal action," he said in Denpasar, Bali, on Friday.

He stressed the importance of the elections to the nation's survival amid the economic and political crises.

Meanwhile, Golkar Party chairman Akbar Tandjung said he would not take legal action against parties he accused of attempting to discredit Golkar.

"Golkar will remain calm ... in order to help create a conducive climate for a free and fair general election," he said here on Friday.

Separately, the National Mandate Party called on civil servants to remain neutral and refrain from giving special treatment to the ruling Golkar, as was the case in the past.

Alvin Lie, secretary of PAN's Central Java provincial chapter, said in Semarang that many civil servants in the province were still conferring special treatment on Golkar.

"The governor should take legal action against Golkar," he said.

The elections supervisory committee in Soppeng, South Sulawesi, also called on the government to take action against Golkar, which it accused of premature campaigning in several villages in the regency.

Kaharuddin Gau, chairman of the elections supervisory committee, said the practice violated the rules of the elections and Golkar should publicly apologize.

Separately, more than 30 students grouped in the Committee of People's Struggle for Change, staged an antielection demonstration on the campus of Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta.

They urged people to boycott the elections until former president Soeharto was brought to trial and his fortune seized.

The students said it was impossible for the nation to implement democracy because Soeharto was still powerful and the military was still active in politics. (23/30/44/har/rms)