'NGOs needed for poll watch'

'NGOs needed for poll watch'

JAKARTA (JP): The government should invite foreign non- governmental organizations (NGOs) as well as representatives of neighboring countries to observe the May 29 general election, two political analysts said yesterday.

Muladi, a law professor at the Semarang-based Diponegoro University, and political writer Alexander Irwan said separately the government could show the world how democratic the elections were by inviting representatives of foreign countries and independent foreign observers.

The government announced last week it would only let representatives appointed by overseas governments observe the election.

Soetoyo N.K., the director general of sociopolitical affairs at the Ministry of Home Affairs, said other foreign observers would be treated as "common tourists whom the government would not serve".

The ruling Golkar, the United Development Party and the Democratic Indonesian Party will contest 425 seats of the 500- seat House of Representatives at the election. The remaining 75 seats are held by members of the Armed Forces, whose members do not vote.

Muladi said foreign observers would encourage contestants to be more careful which would reduce cheating.

But Muladi, a member of the National Commission on Human Rights, agreed with the government's comment that foreign observers should not make judgments according to their national prejudices.

Irwan said that, even if foreign NGOs were invited, they would be of little use unless the government gave them freedom to observe the elections.

He said that, if foreign NGOs were given an opportunity to observe the elections, they should work together with local counterparts such as the unrecognized Independent Elections Monitoring Committee.

"Observers cannot judge by observing only 10 to 20 polling booths and then conclude whether the election is democratic, can they?" Irwan said.

In their book Pemilu: Pelanggaran Asas Luber (Elections: Violations of Direct, General, Free and Confidential Principles) (1995), Alexander Irwan and Edriana cited at least 1,019 cases of violations of direct, general, free and confidential election principles in the 1992 general election.

Violations were mostly committed by bureaucrats, Golkar members and security officers who had access to all election stages, including ballot counting.

Soetoyo said the government would not let foreigner observers move freely because their points of observation would be decided in light of available government facilities. The government would not be able to facilitate foreign observers at all 300,000 polling booths.

Political analyst Rasdi Eko Siswoyo said the government should not invite foreign observers at all.

"It only creates the impression that we have had problems in past elections if we need them (foreign observers) here to observe us," he told The Jakarta Post yesterday.

Rasdi, the rector of Semarang Teachers Training Institute, said Indonesia's general elections had been good quality and without disturbance.

"The people have already recognized that elections here are good. Their participation rates have been as high as 90 percent," he said.

He said, if foreign observers were invited, the government would need to restrict their meddling.

"We have different political standards to foreigners, so they would have to pass their judgments in accordance with our standards," he said. (aan/har)

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