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)