Observer predicts widespread poll rigging

Observer predicts widespread poll rigging

JAKARTA (JP): Systematic poll rigging by bureaucrats and the
military to help Golkar, the government-backed contestant, will
remain widespread in the coming election, an observer predicted
yesterday.

Alexander Irwan also dismissed fears that there will be
violent disruptions of the May 29 election by people wanting to
vent their frustration at social injustices.

Irwan, a cowriter of Election, Violations of Fair Principles,
about vote rigging in the 1992 election, believes the violations
would be about as numerous as five years ago.

The worst violations mostly take place in polling stations
where witnesses from Golkar's rivals, the United Development
Party (PPP) and Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI), are often
blocked from observing the ballot counting, he said.

"Witnesses are crucial in the ballot counting and in the past
they often became a prime target of intimidation," Irwan told The
Jakarta Post.

PPP and PDI also breached the regulations but their
violations, such as removing Golkar's banners, were described as
unsystematic and insignificant.

Golkar, PDI and PPP will compete for 425 seats in the 500-
member House of Representatives. The remaining 75 seats are
reserved for the Armed Forces, whose members do not vote.

Currently, Golkar dominates the House with 282 seats. PPP is
second with 62 seats and PDI has 56. In past elections the Armed
Forces was granted 100 seats.

Golkar, which enjoys strong backing from the bureaucracy, the
military and business conglomerates, is looking to increase its
share of the vote from 68 percent to 70 percent.

According to Irwan, security and government institutions from
ministry down to neighborhood level all but dominated the 1992
general election.

Government officials at all administrative levels, who are
supposedly neutral, hold key positions in the electoral
institutions.

For instance village chiefs are also Golkar activists,
members of the local election committee and the election
supervision committee.

"These overlapping positions allow officials to arrange the
election results," he said.

In the past, PPP and PDI witnesses were coerced into signing
declarations on election results before the ballot counting had
even started, he said.

"Witnesses who refused to sign the documents were subject to
physical abuses. In 1992, the most incidents were reported in
Aceh," he added.

In the run-up to this May's election, Irwan has noted several
violations. In the central Java town of Demak, for example,
officials have intimidated students to vote for Golkar.

The presence of unrecognized Independent Election Monitoring
Committee and possibly also foreign observers, will not
contribute anything to improving this year's election quality
because violations occurred not only during ballot counting.

"Who can monitor the transport of ballot boxes, for instance,"
he said, warning that the independent watchdog activists may well
be subject to physical harassment.

Irwan brushed aside fears that mob violence, as has happened
in several places since October, might reoccur prior to the
election because the government did not want it to happen and
disrupt the event.

He said the Indonesian middle class was not strong enough to
force political change as some hope. Indonesian middle class
people need the government's political protection, he said.

"Besides, large businesses find the government policies'
benefit them so they have nothing to complain about. Complaints
about illegal levies and bureaucratic hurdles come from small and
medium-sized businesses." (pan)