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.