Legislature candidates announced

Legislature candidates announced

JAKARTA (JP): The National Election Committee will have
completed half its preparations for the May 29 election when it
releases today its provisional list of 2,303 legislature
candidates.

Minister of Home Affairs Moch. Yogie S.M., in his capacity as
committee chairman, will officially release the list today, a few
hours after it is published by all the country's morning dailies.
State-owned television station TVRI and radio station RRI will
also broadcast the names of the candidates.

The Moslem-oriented United Development Party's (PPP) list
contains 730 candidates, the ruling political grouping Golkar has
829 candidates and the nationalist-Christian alliance Indonesian
Democratic Party (PDI) has 744.

Public scrutiny of the candidates is scheduled to start
tomorrow and end on Feb. 18, giving the public 28 days to raise
complaints or objections against the candidates.

Among the basic conditions of nomination are that candidates
must be at least 21 years old and have a clearance from the
government internal security agency over any links with the
outlawed Indonesian Communist Party. Reported links have been
used to strike candidates from final nomination lists.

The PPP, PDI and Golkar must draft their final nomination
lists between Feb. 19 and March 9.

The three groupings will contest the May 29 election, vying
for 425 of the 500 seats at the House of Representatives: 75
seats are reserved for members of the Armed Forces who do not
vote.

An estimated 120 million people will attend balloting tents on
election day in the sixth election since 1971 under the New Order
administration.

The country's Who's Who fill Golkar's list representing
various provinces. But Minister of Information Harmoko, who is
also Golkar's chairman, has the best chance of winning a seat. He
topped Golkar's list of candidates for West Java.

Cabinet ministers and other high-ranking officials such as the
chief justice, attorney general, chairman of the Supreme Advisory
Body and governor of Bank Indonesia are barred by law from
holding legislative posts.

Vote-getters

Harmoko's fellow serving ministers were put low on Golkar's
list; they will serve as its vote getters.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas was ranked fifth in
Golkar's list of candidates representing East Timor, the province
which offered only four House seats in the last two elections, in
1987 and 1992.

Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Azwar Anas, State
Minister of Research and Technology B.J. Habibie, Minister of
Finance Mar'ie Muhammad and chairman of the Logistic Board Beddu
Amang were listed 24th, 25th, 26th and 28th respectively for
South Sulawesi's seats. Golkar won 21 seats in this province in
the last two elections.

Minister/State Secretary Moerdiono was listed 10th for Bali,
Minister of Trade and Industry Tunky Ariwibowo was 15th for South
Sumatra, Minister of National Development Planning Ginandjar
Kartasasmita and Minister of Education and Culture Wardiman
Djojonegoro were 19th and 20th respectively for Jakarta, in which
Golkar won eight seats both in 1987 and 1992.

Golkar nominated several wives of ministers, Army officers and
other high-ranking officials, including Masrowida Feisal Tanjung,
Emmy Sariamah Yogie S.M. and Endang Agustini Syarwan Hamid.

President Soeharto's children were also among Golkar's
candidates, with Hutomo Mandala Putra representing South Sumatra,
Bambang Trihatmodjo for Jakarta, Siti Hediati Prabowo for West
Java and Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana for Central Java. Soeharto's
daughter-in-law, Halimah Bambang Trihatmodjo, is nominated for
West Sumatra. None of them are likely to enter the House of
Representatives.

The PDI, as expected, excluded its ousted leader Megawati
Soekarnoputri and her loyalists from its list. The government-
supported chairman Soerjadi was the party's number-one candidate
for Jakarta.

Soerjadi's supporters Dimmy Haryanto and Latief Pujosakti, the
PDI caretaker after a congress dethroned Soerjadi in 1993, were
the first and second candidates for East Java respectively.

Fatimah Achmad, who led a rebel congress to topple Megawati
last year, looks certain to win another five-year term at the
House because she is listed second for North Sumatra, ahead of
Soerjadi's secretary-general Buttu Hutapea.

Alex Litaay, the secretary-general of Megawati's executive
board, blasted the General Election Committee yesterday for
endorsing the list of PDI candidates drawn up by Soerjadi.

"The committee shouldn't have accepted Soerjadi's list, he did
not have the right," he told reporters last night. "Will the
public accept the general election as valid if even at this
particular stage it has been violated?"

The PPP has maintained its old faces, with chairman Ismail
Hasan Metareum leading its nominees for Jakarta. As did the
chairman of the PPP faction at the House, Aisyah Amini, for West
Sumatra.

The chairman of PPP's Jakarta branch, Rusydi Hamka, son of the
country's most prominent ulema, the late Hamka, was right behind
Aisyah. (amd)