Names of 'crooked politicians' released

Names of 'crooked politicians' released

Tony Hotland, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Constituents got a helping hand on Saturday, as the long-awaited
list of what non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have called
crooked politicians was made public.

The list, initially expected to be released before the first
day of political parties' campaign on March 11, lists candidates
for the provincial level of House of Representatives (DPR) and
the Regional Representatives Council (DPD). It was the first in a
series of three, with the next two expected to appear within 10
days.

Appearing in a four-page newspaper format titled Sosok
(figures) the list's headline reads: "Are they worthy of being
elected?". The statement below the headline reads "published by
the national movement against crooked politicians." Around 150
NGOs across the country launched the movement early this year.

The list includes the names of 61 DPR and DPD candidates who
are running for the April 5 legislative election along with their
respective parties, election areas and brief descriptions of
their questionable records.

Otto Pratama of Indonesian Human Rights Watch (Imparsial),
told The Jakarta Post on Saturday that the coalition of NGOs had
printed over 300,000 copies.

"They will be distributed directly to the public in 13 major
provinces, excluding Aceh, Maluku and Papua, due to difficulties
in the distribution mechanism. We oppose the holding of the
general election in Aceh, so it would be odd if we distributed
the list there," Otto said. Indonesia has a total of 32
provinces.

Full names and brief records of the candidates in the list is
accessible through www.antipolitisibusuk.org. A total of 12
million out of 215 million Indonesians have Internet access.

The list of candidates contains several well-known names in
the military and the bureaucracy. Some of them are former top
officials at the ministerial level.

The candidates, mostly state officials, are divided into four
categories of shame -- 26 human rights violators, 25 corruptors,
seven named for violence against women, and five for
environmental destruction. One candidate from the Indonesian
Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), however, is listed in three
categories, while another from Golkar is in two categories.

Golkar party has "contributed" 18 names, mostly for human
rights violations; followed by PDI-P with 13, mainly for
corruption; the United Development Party with 10; while the
Concern for the Nation Functional Party and the National Mandate
Party have five each.

Another four are from the National Awakening Party, two each
from the Crescent Star Party and the Prosperous Justice Party,
one from the Pioneers' Party, and one who is running for Jakarta
Regional Representatives Council (DPD).

Otto said the coalition found the lack of availability of
records as an obstacle in putting together the list.

"Initially we had hundreds of names but we encountered trouble
finding valid records and we don't want to just put in names," he
said.

Otto added that the coalition had prepared a team of legal
experts to defend the publication should any of the candidates
submit a libel suit. Several NGOs have withdrawn from the
coalition, he said, for fear of a backlash.

The second list will provide records of several candidates
running for the DPD election, while the third one provides the
records of presidential hopefuls.