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.