KPU says no bias in interest group picks

KPU says no bias in interest group picks

JAKARTA (JP): The widely criticized General Elections
Commission (KPU) pledged to be fair and objective in its
selection of 65 interest group representatives for the next
People's Consultative Assembly (MPR).

KPU chairman Rudini said on Thursday the commission's
objectivity in the selection process was necessary to avoid the
presence of "political adventurers" in the Assembly.

"We are aware of the increasing criticism of our failure to
endorse the poll results. That is normal in democracy. We will,
nevertheless, complete our tasks.

"You will see that political adventurers will not pass through
the selection process because, despite the establishment of the
Team of 15, all decisions about the MPR factions will be made in
KPU plenary sessions," he said.

He said the Team of 15, most of whose members were
representatives of minor political parties, would examine more
than 400 interest groups which had proposed candidates for the
Assembly.

However, there are rumors that many members of the Team of 15,
most of whom represent parties which failed to win seats in the
House of Representatives in the general election, are seeking to
gain seats in the Assembly as members of the interest group
faction.

Team member Agus Miftah has been nominated as an Assembly
candidate by BLH, an environmental group which he chairs.

Rudini said the interest groups which passed the selection
process would be those which were not accommodated by political
parties which had won seats in the House.

The elections commission ruled the 65-strong interest group
faction in the Assembly would comprise groups which represented
religions (20 seats), retired officers (five), small-scale
economic groups (nine), women's groups (five), minority ethnic
groups (five), the handicapped (two), intellectual groups (nine),
civil servants (five), student groups and non-governmental
organizations (one).

KPU government representative Andi A. Mallarangeng said the
government representatives on the elections commission would
oppose the presence of KPU members in the Assembly's interest
group faction.

"It will certainly be against the Constitution if interest
group representatives are selected from political parties," he
said, adding that a number of KPU representatives of minor
political parties were seeking seats in the next Assembly as part
of the interest group faction.

Both Andi and Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI
Perjuangan) KPU representative Jacob Tobing questioned the
commission's credibility in selecting interest group
representatives for the Assembly.

Constitutional experts and political observers have said the
Assembly's interest group faction should be phased out, because
almost all interests groups were accommodated by existing
political parties.

Along with the 135-strong faction of regional representatives
in the Assembly, the interest group faction will play a decisive
role in the General Session of the Assembly, which will elect the
next president.

In the past, the majority of the interest groups and regional
representatives were government and military officials.

Separately, dozens of members of the Walubi Buddhist community
staged a peaceful demonstration to press the elections commission
to reject Nurdin Purnomo as the Buddhist community's
representative in the MPR's interest group faction. The
Indonesian Budhayana Assembly proposed Nurdin as the Buddhist
community's Assembly representative.

Walubi deputy chairman Supradipa Suryadi said the KPU should
select Walubi chairwoman Siti Hartati Murdaya to represent the
Buddhist community in the MPR. He said Walubi was the Buddhist
organization most widely accepted by the Buddhist Assemblies and
the government.

He said Murdaya would resign from the Supreme Advisory Council
and the Elections Supervisory Committee this week to focus her
attention on Walubi.

Meanwhile, the Indonesian Chinese Reform Party (Parti) said
Chinese-Indonesians, as a minority group, should also be
represented in the Assembly. Parti was not eligible to contest in
the general election.

"It would be discriminatory if ethnic Chinese, one of the
country's minority groups, did not have a representative in the
highest legislative body," Parti chairman Lieus Sungkharisma said
on Thursday.

Separately, around 400 PDI Perjuangan supporters staged a
demonstration in front of the elections commission's office,
demanding that the KPU and the National Elections Committee
immediately follow up on the poll results and make the necessary
preparations for the General Session of the MPR.

The demonstrators' spokesman, Batara Sakti, said the MPR
General Session should be held on schedule and should elect PDI
Perjuangan chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri as the next
president. (rms)