NGOs set up independent poll monitoring committee
NGOs set up independent poll monitoring committee
BANDUNG (JP): Ten local non-governmental organizations and
legal aid institutes established an independent poll monitoring
committee here over the weekend.
"We don't care whether the government approves of us. The
monitoring committee will still exist, and we'll still be
monitoring the 1997 general elections," said one activist.
The committee is made up of student activists, youths and
public figures. It vowed to independently monitor all stages of
the general elections, from the registration procedure to the
final ballot counting.
Director of the Nusantara Legal Aid Institute Effendi Saman
said that the activists established the committee on Saturday
because past elections were all marred by cheating, particularly
during the ballot counting process.
This unfair practice not only sabotaged one of the three
political contestants, but also caused a loss to the public, he
said.
He said that it is the responsibility of each of the political
contestants to supervise the general elections. However,
experience has shown that there no legal sanctions were imposed
on any party guilty of manipulating the election process, Saman
charged.
Should similar violations occur in the 1997 general elections,
"we will take legal and political action", Saman said.
A number of representatives from local student movements,
NGOs, and legal aid institutes attended the establishment of the
poll monitoring committee.
They came from the Indonesian National Student Movement
(GMNI), the Institute for Rural Development and Education (LP3),
the Bandung NGO Forum, the People's Democratic Alliance (Aldera),
as well as the Nusantara Legal Aid Institute, amongst others.
Saman said the activists would establish similar committees
across the country.
"We have gained and will gain more support from NGOs
nationwide to establish monitoring committees in other cities,"
he said.
The cities to follow Bandung establishing the committee
included Jakarta, Lampung, Medan in North Sumatra, Mataram in
Lombok, Denpasar in Bali, Ujung Pandang in South Sulawesi, as
well as a number of cities in Central and East Java and West
Kalimantan.
With such great support pouring in, he said, the committee
would find it easier to record violations and establish "a map of
regions prone to cheating during the general elections", he said.
The newly-established committee has already started compiling
data on those cities with the most violations during elections,
he said.
Saman said the committee would monitor elections both in the
big cities and the villages and remote areas.
"Manipulation in general elections usually take place in
villages and remote areas," he said. (pet/imn)