KPU to indirectly bar ministers from campaigning
KPU to indirectly bar ministers from campaigning
JAKARTA (JP): Political parties will be barred from recruiting
government officials, including ministers, to campaign in the
polls, a General Elections Commission (KPU) member said on
Tuesday.
"The KPU has no authority to directly prohibit ministers from
campaigning... because they are presidential aides," A.A. Oka
Mahendra said after the commission's plenary session.
A ruling would have matched a 1999 law on general elections
which bars political parties from using state facilities during
the campaigns, Oka, a legal expert from the Ministry of Justice,
said.
Oka said ministers should take unpaid leave if they wished to
campaign.
The Election Supervisory Committee and independent monitoring
bodies should closely observe the potential for official and
ministerial abuse during campaigns scheduled from May 18 through
June 4, he said.
Ramlan Surbakti, a political scientist from Airlangga
University in Surabaya, said the KPU would have faced accusations
of unfairness if it had directly banned ministers from
campaigning.
"A ban would have been unfair and would have created a feeling
of injustice among ministers because the KPU allows its members
to campaign," he said in Surabaya, East Java, on Tuesday.
Ramlan, also an election supervisory committee member, said
that the KPU had lost its legitimacy to oversee the general
election.
"It is impossible for KPU members to play the roles of
referees and players at the same time," he said.
The election body issued an internal ruling on Tuesday
allowing its members to campaign for their parties and nominate
themselves as legislators.
It was still debating the election code of conduct draft,
which was expected to be passed on Wednesday.
Commission chairman Rudini denied members were divided
regarding the code of conduct.
He said the commission faced many deliberations including
drafting a commission budget, the registration of prospective
voters and the listing of legislator candidates.
Separately, President B.J. Habibie said he would in principle
allow ministers to campaign, provided they did not use state
facilities.
"The President agrees that all ministers, with the exception
of five ministers, may participate in the forthcoming campaigns,
providing they do not use state facilities and disrupt their
daily activities," Minister/State Secretary Akbar Tandjung quoted
Habibie as saying on Tuesday.
Akbar has insisted that ministers be allowed to campaign.
As well as Attorney General Andi Ghalib, the five ministers
barred from campaigning are Coordinating Minister for Development
Supervision and Administrative Reform Hartarto, Minister of
Defense and Security/Armed Forces Commander Gen. Wiranto,
Minister of Justice Muladi and Minister of Home Affairs Syarwan
Hamid.
Sarwono Kusumaatmadja, a former minister for environment,
agreed with the ruling.
"In principle, there are no problems... but ministers should
be barred from using state facilities and take unpaid leave
during their campaign activities," he said in Palu, Central
Sulawesi, on Tuesday.
Muchtar Pakpahan, chairman of the Advisory Board of the
National Labor Party, said campaign conditions for officials,
including ministers were not clear-cut.
"Officials cannot separate their personal interests from their
positions," he said at a meeting in Palangkaraya, Central
Kalimantan.
Political observer Eep Saefulloh Fatah, said because of the
limited lead-up time to the June 7 polls, the election commission
was working too slowly, which in turn might frustrate the
election process.
"Some of the commission members do not fully comprehend
broader concerns and tend to raise unimportant problems," he told
Antara from Helsinki, Finland on Tuesday.
Eep and Andi A. Mallarangeng, a KPU member, were in Finland to
observe elections.
Andi said the commission would provide cellular phones to
almost all poll booths in Indonesia, to support the electoral
process.
The KPU had found donators willing to fund the purchase of the
phones, he said. (rms)