Leading figures warn of 'disaster' if polls unfair

Leading figures warn of 'disaster' if polls unfair

JAKARTA (JP): The nation could be torn apart if there is no
guarantee that next year's general election will be free and
fair, it was warned on Sunday.

"Poll rigging will lead to a disaster," Siswono Yudohusodo of
the Movement for Indonesian Justice and Unity (GKPB) said here
during the organization's national consultation meeting.

Amien Rais of the National Mandate Party (PAN) said in Padang,
West Sumatra: "We don't want anyone playing foul like in the
elections under New Order. Any instance of cheating, he said,
would be widely protested. "And the nation will face an even
bigger problem."

The warnings came amid deliberations of three political bills
by the House of Representatives (DPR). The bills are slated for
endorsement on Jan. 28.

The poll, slated for June, a month later than originally
scheduled, will be the nation's ninth since its independence from
Dutch colonial rule. The first -- dubbed the most democratic --
was held in 1955. The seven other polls held under former
president Soeharto's New Order were criticized as being massively
rigged in favor of the ruling Golkar party.

To pave way for democratic elections in the post-Soeharto era,
three of the laws -- on elections, on political parties, on the
structure and position of the People's Consultative Assembly
(MPR) and the DPR -- will be revoked and replaced with the ones
currently being deliberated in the DPR.

In a statement issued after the meeting, GKPB said that the
upcoming election was a must for setting up a legitimate
government, "... so efforts to settle the crisis and eradication
of corruption, collusion and nepotism can command support,
consistency and justice," the statement read by GKPB Coordinator
Sarwono Kusumaatmadja said.

To ensure a free and fair elections, GKPB suggested the
election of DPRD I (provincial)/DPR II (regency) legislators be
held on the same day as the national representatives.

The government has suggested, through its bill on elections,
that the local elections be held on different days.

All the factions in the DPR's 87-member Special Committee
deliberating the bills -- Golkar, the Indonesian Democratic Party
(PDI), United Development Party (PPP) and the Armed Forces (ABRI)
-- have proposed it be held on the same day.

In line with widespread calls to avoid a repetition of
government intervention blamed for contributing to Golkar's
repeated victories, GKPB also urged that the bill limit the role
of the government in the administration of polling to "financing
and facilitating the poll and providing security".

"The emphasis of poll administration must be on the society,
especially the contesting political parties," GKPB said.

The government has proposed the formation of an electoral
committee, which it has called the National Election
Implementation Committee (KPU), at provincial and regency levels.
It will consist of "five representatives from the government,
five from society and one from each political party".

The members from society will be determined by political
parties and the government, the government has proposed.

The National KPU will make policies regarding the poll
organization while the Indonesian Election Committee (PPI) --
which the KPU will set up at provincial and regency levels --
will oversee polling administration, the government has
suggested.

PPI will also consist of representatives from the government,
political parties and society. KPU will determine which members
of the society will be included.

GKPB also said on Sunday it would work together with all
members of society to supervise the polls. It also commended the
retention of the proportional representation voting system.

Another issue related to free and fair elections was also
touched on. Siswono and Golkar legislator Sutradara Ginting of
GKPB urged that the country's four million civil servants be
neutral from all political parties.

Ginting said the neutrality of both ABRI members and civil
servants was a requirement for a free and fair elections.

"I don't know if Golkar has a vested interest of its own if it
insists on making civil servants free to join political parties,"
Ginting of the DPR's Commission I for political affairs said.

Last week, Golkar contradicted the government and three other
factions to fight for civil servants' right to be free to join
political parties. Deliberations on the issue were left pending.
(28/aan)