MPR delay plan no ploy: Government

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)