New regulations on poll campaigns deplored as vague

New regulations on poll campaigns deplored as vague

JAKARTA (JP): The new regulations on election campaigns are
vague and may be detrimental to the two minority parties,
according to two political observers from the University of
Indonesia.

M. Budhyatna, the dean of the School of Social and Political
Sciences, said some of the wordings in the regulations may
attract different interpretations.

Maswadi Rauf, a staff lecturer at the university, said in the
event of a conflict over interpretation, the government's
interpretation usually prevails.

The new campaign regulations are contained in Presidential
Decree No. 99/1996 and Government Regulation No. 74/1996, both
issued last month.

The government said the new regulations are intended to ensure
peace and order during the campaign preceding the May general
election. The regulations, which ban street rallies and only
allow electioneering in the form of public assemblies, media
coverage and printed publications, have raised skepticism among
observers.

The two political observers questioned the term "rally".

"The definition of 'rally' used in the regulation is still
vague," Budhyatna said. "Does it mean people cannot walk together
or use their vehicles together when they want to go to the mass
assemblies?"

"If that is what the government wants, I think it's very
strange, because the two (street rallies and mass gatherings) are
inextricable. A street rally could happen simultaneously if there
was a mass gathering," he said.

"This is not a breakthrough. This will only create new
problems," he said.

President Soeharto has set May 29 as the polling day to elect
425 of the 500 members of the House of Representatives. The other
75 seats are reserved for Armed Forces representatives.

The election will be contested between Golkar, the United
Development Party (PPP) and the Indonesian Democratic Party
(PDI).

Campaigning will be restricted for the period between April 29
and May 23. A five-day cooling period -- meaning no campaigning
at all -- precedes election day.

In past election campaigns, clashes between supporters of
different parties were avoided by allowing the parties to
campaign on different days in any given town.

Some rallies, however, still turned rowdy and disorderly
because they involved long motorcades as supporters were being
transported to the campaign assembly site and driven home
afterwards.

Maswadi said he was not sure whether the new rules would
actually prevent motorcades from developing, because there might
be problems of interpretation.

"In my book, two cars is all right. But if a convoy involves
more than 10 cars, law enforcement officers might consider it an
offense. This is a loophole," he said.

"It will be very hard to enforce because the government then
has to decide the specific number of cars that can be used to
take supporters to a political assembly," he said.

"It (the issue) definitely is open to argument," he added.

Budhyatna said the ban on street rallies will be detrimental
to the PPP and the PDI, and is only beneficial to Golkar.

"The two minority parties rely heavily on the spontaneity of
their supporters," he said. "Golkar, on the other hand, uses a
more top-down approach."

"The decisionmakers in the government, who are mostly Golkar
members, want to eliminate this kind of spontaneity. Golkar does
not rely on street rallies too much and therefore, it will not
affect their votes. It has a solid mass and huge funding,"
Budhyatna said.

He suspected that the real reason behind the ruling was to
help Golkar again achieve another landslide victory.

"It seems that Golkar is using all of their tricks to sweep
the coming election. This is one of them," he said.

Budhyatna and Maswadi promised, however, that as members of
the public, they would monitor and make sure that the regulations
are enforced fairly and properly.

"It's our duty to look out for any signs of unfairness,"
Maswadi said.

"It also means that government officials should do their jobs
properly. They should not busy themselves with only figuring on
how to make Golkar sweep the votes," Budhyatna said.

Golkar has won all five general elections held under President
Soeharto since 1971. In 1992, it won 68 percent of the total
votes, against PPP's 17 percent and PDI's 15 percent.

Golkar is targeting to win at least 70 percent of the votes
this year, a figure many political observers said should be easy
for it to attain, given its strength. (36)