MPR delay plan no ploy: Government

JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Home Affairs Syarwan Hamid dismissed on Tuesday accusations that political motives were behind the government's recent attempt to delay the General Session of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR).

"It's too much if people say the delay was politically motivated," Syarwan told reporters during a break in a hearing with the House of Representatives (DPR) Commission II.

Syarwan was referring to observers and politicians alike who blasted the government for announcing that the MPR session, which will elect the next president, would likely be postponed by a month.

He called on the public for restraint, saying, "What's important is that the new government will start working on Jan. 1, 2000, under the guidance of the new State Policy Guidelines."

Separately, the General Elections Commission (KPU) said it had set a tentative deadline of July 21 to issue the official results of the June 7 polls. Adnan Buyung Nasution, vice chairman of the KPU, made the comment as the formal tallying at national level began at the National Elections Committee (PPI) office in Jakarta, weeks behind schedule.

PPI chairman Jacob Tobing said on Tuesday the vote count would likely be completed by July 15.

President Habibie signaled on Friday that the session to elect a president and vice president, as part of the MPR General Session, would likely be moved to December due to the General Elections Commission's decision to delay some preceding stages, including the national-level vote count.

Syarwan, however, agreed that a delayed General Session would pose a constraint to the KPU in meeting another of its duties, namely selecting candidates for the House interest group representatives.

"If the vote count is not completed until the end of July, the KPU will not have enough time to select the 65 faction members, because none of the 10 groups determined by the KPU has submitted their representatives to the commission," he said.

According to the 1999 Law on the Composition of MPR, DPR, Provincial and Regency Legislatures, the appointing will be made by the KPU while a presidential decree will seal it.

Syarwan also said the government has agreed with the election commission that cases of poll violations would be resolved as soon as possible. He urged political parties to accept the poll results once cases of violations have been settled.

A number of political parties that have so far failed to secure at least 2 percent, or 10 of the House's 500 seats, have threatened to refuse to sign the poll results -- thus rendering the polls invalid -- if the violations remain unsettled.

At the end of the first day of the national level vote count, PPI completed the tallying from seven provinces: Bali, Yogyakarta, Central Java, East Java, Lampung, Riau and East Timor.

Megawati Soekarnoputri's PDI Perjuangan lead in four of the seven provinces, namely in Bali, Yogyakarta, Central Java and Lampung. Golkar dominated Riau and East Timor, while the National Awakening Party (PKB) lead in East Java.

"The vote count result from the seven provincial election committees is still provisional in nature because the PPI will only seal it after the results from all 27 provinces are counted," Jacob said as quoted by Antara.

A total of 18 provincial committees have submitted their tally results to PPI.

Independence

Observers have partially put the blame for the slow process on the regency and provincial-level election committees' lack of independence in settling problems occurring in their areas of jurisdiction.

The South Sulawesi provincial election committee failed to start the provincial vote count on Tuesday and asked for an additional day to start the process as it was still waiting for the tabulated poll results from the Luwu regency election committee.

The Luwu election committee, in turn, was still struggling with local cases of election fraud and irregularities.

Similarly, the Central Sulawesi provincial election committee failed to deliver its tabulated poll results to PPI on Tuesday because it was still waiting for the results from Donggala regency election committee, which arrived only on Tuesday afternoon.

Meanwhile, election contenders in North Sumatra on Tuesday called on the election supervisory committee to follow up on all complaints of election fraud and irregularities.

"All election contenders here have agreed to accept the poll results, but on the condition that all violations and irregularities be resolved," chairman of the North Sumatra election committee, Mudyono, said.

Aceh

In its plenary meeting on Tuesday, the KPU discussed the validity of elections in Aceh, where the three regencies of North Aceh, East Aceh and Pidie failed to hold the polls for security reasons. The deadline for all repeat polls is Wednesday.

Several KPU members proposed that the seats allocated for the three regencies in the House of Representatives (DPR) should remain vacant. Their proposal, however, was countered by government representative in the commission Andi Mallarangeng, who said that according to the Constitution, every regency must be represented in the House.

Rudini suggested that the issue be discussed with the Ministry of Home Affairs. (rms/27/38/40/imn)