Observers fear violations in coming election

Observers fear violations in coming election

JAKARTA (JP): Two political observers fear rampant violations
will occur in the upcoming general elections, but another
observer expressed confidence that election organizers would be
more mindful of people's call for fair play.

Political lecturers Ramlan Surbakty and Aribowo of the
Surabaya-based Airlangga University and Maswadi Rauf of the
University of Indonesia in Depok, West Java, agreed, separately,
that no significant improvement, in terms of the rate of
violations of election rules, could be expected in the May 29
poll.

"I'm pessimistic (whether improvement is impending)," Ramlan
said. "Even now violations of rules are already taking place.
They will peak on the polling day."

He said despite the public becoming more critical and the
increasing pressure from all directions for a better general
election, those who organized the general elections were mostly
people setting their caps at better positions in the
administration afterward.

"This election is organized by government officials, the
bureaucracy and the Armed Forces. They side with (the ruling)
Golkar," he said. "They are likely to compete to show that they
worked hard for (Golkar's) victory in the election. They will
want to stake their claims for greater power (in the
establishment of new administration) in 1998."

Maswadi agreed.

"Yes, there will be some improvements because people are more
critical now. But I'm pessimistic that there will be significant
change," Maswadi said.

"There will be violations, only not as blatant as those in the
1992 election," he said. "Then, the organizers violated rules
without even blinking an eye. Now, at least they will take
furtive glances to the right and left before committing
violations."

Aribowo offered a different opinion. "Not only are people
becoming more critical, they are braver in fighting for what they
believe in," he said. "No, there will be fewer violations of
election rules because, under the public's increasingly watchful
eyes and with the threats of legal measures, there will be fewer
opportunities for violating the rules."

In their book Pemilu: Pelanggaran Asas Luber (1995), Alexander
Irwan and Edriana cited at least 1019 cases of violations of the
principles of "direct, general, free and confidential elections"
in the 1992 general election.

The violations were mostly committed by those with access to
all the election stages, including ballot counting; they were
members of the bureaucracy, Golkar, security officers and
election committees at various levels.

The kinds of violations listed were; intimidating voters to
vote for Golkar, violence against those who supported the
minority political parties -- the United Development Party (PPP)
and the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI), and barring them from
polling booths.

During the past several months, government officials have
repeatedly striven to assure the public that the coming general
election would not only see a bigger turnout, but also better
procedures. "A quality general election" has been the catchword
recently.

The PPP, Golkar and the PDI will contest 425 of the 500
coveted seats in the House of Representatives; the remaining 75
will go to the Armed Forces whose members do not vote. Golkar has
won, without significant challenge, the last five elections held
under the New Order administration since 1971.

"I'm not too optimistic that more people will go to the polls.
In 1992, those who could not accept Golkar or PPP, usually young
people, still had the alternative, namely PDI. Now I'm not too
sure," said Ramlan.

"I see improvements from one general election to the next,"
Aribowo said. "At least, I hope there will be an improvement this
year too."

"It's also a matter of how you see things," Maswadi said.
"Pessimists would say how come there's been no significant change
in the last 20 years. Optimists would say there have been
improvements, no matter how minute. In this case, at least, the
violations won't be committed so blatantly."

Aribowo, however, questioned whether the turnout had a direct
bearing on democratization. "Liberal countries such as the United
States and those in Western Europe don't usually have high
election turnouts, in contrast to eastern European countries or
Australia where it is mandatory for citizens to vote.

"The more 'democratic' a country, the fewer citizens go to the
polls because voting is often not a matter of participation but
of mobilization," he said. "If there are more critical people,
that means Indonesia is becoming even more democratic, but would
that result in a higher turnout?"

"Democracy is not only about general elections. It's a five
yearly monument, but the real politics are being played out there
by various interests groups," he said. (swe)