Military orders removal of all political banners

Military orders removal of all political banners

YOGYAKARTA (JP): The local military chief has ordered the three political organizations to remove all flags and banners from the city's main roads amid reports that campaigning has already begun for next year's general election.

Lt. Col. Sukedi said yesterday he met with representatives of Golkar, the United Development Party (PPP) and the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) and they all agreed to take down the flags and banners that have been displayed in the city for the past two weeks.

The three political parties have until Friday to comply, he said, adding that the order was "for the sake of our common peace."

Sukedi made no mention of sanctions against the PPP and PDI, the two minority parties, who staged major political rallies on Sunday, raising suggestions that they were electioneering in violation of the law.

By law, the political parties can only stage election rallies at designated times, usually only in the month before the election.

Thousands of supporters of the two parties held separate marches, including motorcades, across the city on Sunday, yelling their party slogans as if it was election time.

Leaders of the two parties said the motorcades were taking supporters home after attending "meetings with cadres" in the city.

The meetings were held to mark the 24th anniversaries of the PPP and PDI, although their actual anniversary fell in January.

The leaders of the two parties said the behavior of their supporters after the meeting was beyond their control.

Golkar has kept quiet about the incident, which was widely played up by the media. "Meeting with cadres" is the term used by Golkar chairman Harmoko in referring to the big political rallies he has held in various cities in the country over the past two years.

A senior official of the Ministry of Home Affairs, which polices the behavior of the political organizations, said he did not see anything wrong with the motorcades in Yogyakarta, so long as the local police did not have any objections.

Director General for Sociopolitical Affairs Soetoyo NK said in Surakarta, Central Java, yesterday that "meetings with cadres" are permitted and are not regarded as electioneering.

Asked about the possibility of similar incidents in other cities in view of the government's decision not to punish the parties, Soetoyo said the final decision on whether or not to ban such motorcades is in the hands of the local police.

"If they don't disturb peace and order, clearly there's nothing wrong with them," he said.

Heru Nugroho, a political analyst at Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta yesterday said that the weekend rallies reflected the growing discontent among PPP and PDI supporters with the present political conditions.

"The incident was a manifestation of their rejection of the rigid political system which does not tolerate differences of opinions and views," Heru said. (har/emb)