'Negative campaigning' prominent, says UNFREL
JAKARTA (JP): Observers believe the reform movement which forced Soeharto to step down last year has yet to change people's political behavior for the better, with many still engaged in "negative campaigning" for the June 7 general election.
Todung Mulya Lubis of the University Network for Free and Fair Elections (Unfrel) and officials of the Independent Elections Monitoring Committee (KIPP) evaluated the first round of this year's campaign, which ended Monday, by noting that many of the 48 parties contesting the polls still campaigned in ways which smacked of practices under Soeharto's New Order administration.
"Unfrel notes that supporters of several political parties still disparage other parties or condemn leaders of other parties," Lubis told The Jakarta Post.
"We also notice that campaign participants held street rallies, which violated not only the electoral law but also traffic regulations."
KIPP said in a written statement that the reform spirit has failed to change the behavior of campaign participants.
"The content of the campaigning mimics those held by those contesting elections during the New Order administration," said the statement, cosigned by KIPP Presidium chairman Yoppie Renyaan and Monitoring Division chief Junaidi.
The independent committee concluded that most of the campaign participants failed to make optimal use of the first-phase of the campaign period.
"Election participants have no clear guidance for the content of their campaigns," it said. "Most of them chose cases of corruption, collusion and nepotistic practices by former president Soeharto as topics of their election campaigning."
The law on elections bans parties from disparaging other parties and the General Elections Commission's decree prohibits street rallies.
KIPP noted 142 cases of political parties organizing campaigning at places other than designated areas, 169 cases of street rallies and 18 cases of parties contesting the polls condemning or disparaging other parties or party leaders.
The independent committee also noted three cases of the destruction of party facilities, four cases of parties using facilities of houses of worships and six cases of parties using state facilities.
Meanwhile, Fajrul Falaakh, an advisor to the United Nations Development Program, said there should be no problem with street rallies as long as campaign participants could maintain order and security.
Fajrul believed only Golkar benefited from the current campaigning because of its years of experience since it was established by Soeharto.
Other parties were at a disadvantage because they were newer and had a shorter time to disseminate their programs to the community.
Lubis, the KIPP officials and Fajrul, however, agreed the first round of the election campaigning proceeded in a more orderly manner, with minimal cases of security disturbances and disorderly conduct.
"Despite clashes among supporters of different parties and cases of violation of the electoral law and the commission's regulations, the first round of the election campaigning was successful," Lubis said.
"The first round of the campaigning was relatively safe," Fajrul said.
In Ujungpandang, South Sulawesi, the local office of the KIPP noted that several election participants violated the electoral law during the first round of campaigning.
It cited several supporters of the National Awakening Party (PKB) who carried badik (small daggers) in a rally last Sunday, while supporters of the Golkar Party were caught tearing down a banner belonging to the United Development Party (PPP) on the same day.
The independent committee also found the Indonesian Democratic Union Party (PUDI) violated the electoral law when it organized an election campaigning speech in the park of the 45 Grand Mosque about Monday, while about 100 supporters of the lesser known National Labor Party (PBN) occupied the whole expanse of the streets in a rally. (imn/30/edt)