Most legislative candidates blacklisted by movement

Most legislative candidates blacklisted by movement

Abdul Khalik and Rusman, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta/Samarinda

The national movement against unscrupulous politicians looks set
to blacklist 70 percent of the legislative candidates submitted
by political parties to the General Elections Commission (KPU)
for their bad track records.

One of the movement's initiators, Indira Damayanti Soegondo,
said on Thursday although thorough investigation of all the
legislative aspirants had not finished, she believed most of them
could be categorized as "rotten" based on media reports.

"We haven't completed the scrutiny of the candidates as not
all the names have been submitted. However, if we examine the
list, it is dominated by people with bad track records. I think
approximately 70 percent will be in our blacklist," said Indira,
a former House of Representatives' member from the Indonesian
Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P)

All the 24 political parties submitted their lists of
candidates to the KPU on Monday night.

Indira said the most important objective of the national
movement was to provide the public with enough information on the
quality of legislative candidates.

"Anybody can say that the movement has no legal basis, but it
is aimed at a much wider goal than simple party interests. We
hope people will realize which politicians are not fit to
represent them," she said.

House of Representatives speaker and Golkar Party chairman
Akbar Tandjung criticized the movement as counterproductive and
threatened to file a libel lawsuit against the initiators of the
campaign if any Golkar candidates appeared on the blacklist.

Indira said the movement's promoters were ready to face any
lawsuits against the publication of the list and had assembled a
team of lawyers.

Other promoters of the movement are senior journalist Goenawan
Mohamad, Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) coordinator Teten
Masduki, rights activists Munir and Bambang Widjojanto.

Indonesia will hold a general election on April 5 next year
and a landmark direct presidential election on July 5.

Meanwhile, in Samarinda, East Kalimantan, hundreds of
university students grouped under the Committee against Rotten
and Corrupt Political Parties staged a demonstration on Thursday
to urge the general public not to vote for politicians and
parties of dubious integrity in the 2004 general election.

Participants of the rally came from the Association of Muslim
Students Movement (KAMMI), the Democratic People's Party (PRD),
the National Democratic Students League (LMND) and the Muslim
Students Association (HMI).

"We urge the public not to vote for crooked politicians. It's
time to fight these politicians. They are only interested in the
people's votes to serve their own interests," said Maswan, the
PRD's East Kalimantan chairman.