Observers hail PPP's threat to boycott campaign

Observers hail PPP's threat to boycott campaign

JAKARTA (JP): Political analysts hailed yesterday the United
Development Party's (PPP) threat to boycott the election campaign
should the government insist on deciding the moderators of
broadcasted debates between contestants.

The government has restricted campaigning, from April 27 to
May 23, to indoor debates broadcast by television or radio
stations.

Arbi Sanit of the University of Indonesia said the PPP's
maneuver could earn it the sympathy of voters, especially in the
cities.

Maswadi Ra'uf, also of the University of Indonesia, said the
government should heed the PPP's threat and revise the campaign
rules.

Samsuddin Haris of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences said
the PPP's threat would backfire if the party backed down.

The analysts were commenting on a statement by Ismail Hasan
Metareum, chairman of the Moslem-oriented PPP, which protested
the government's policy to appoint the moderators of campaign
debates.

The policy stipulates that prerecorded broadcasts of debates,
which will run for about 30 minutes, should be moderated by
experts appointed by the government.

Ismail said the debates would only harm the PPP if they
followed this rule.

"Should the moderator be determined by the Chairman of the
Indonesian Elections Committee, how can we be sure of his or her
neutrality," he said.

He said the contestants should be free to choose their
moderators, but the election committee should have the right to
approve them.

Arbi Sanit said the PPP would gain nothing from the debates if
they followed this rule.

"If the moderator is chosen by the government, only Golkar
campaigners would be free to talk because he or she would be
unlikely to criticize the government," he said.

Arbi said the PPP's latest move seemed to be a show of
independence, which could draw sympathy from more educated voters
in the cities.

"A boycott threat is an effective way to campaign for critical
voters," Arbi told The Jakarta Post.

Maswadi agreed with Arbi that threats to boycott the campaign
could draw sympathy from city voters, but he said the threat was
not serious.

"It's only a loud demand for fair regulations which the
committee should heed," Maswadi told the Post.

"After all, it would not be easy for the election committee to
bow to the PPP's demand for independent moderators," he said.

Maswadi said a debate would be unproductive if one of the
participants rejected its moderator.

Samsuddin Haris said the PPP was using the controversial rule
to force the government to hear its objections.

"It is unlikely that a campaign of debates will be effective
for the Indonesian community which is unfamiliar with debating as
a way to solve differences," he said.

Samsuddin said he was wondering if the debates would touch on
"substantial matters" such political reform.

Separately, the National Election Committee released yesterday
its final list of 2,285 legislature candidates.

The PPP list contains 716 candidates, the ruling political
grouping Golkar has 825 candidates and the nationalist-Christian
alliance Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) has 744.

The three lists altogether were a little shorter from the
provisional list containing 2,293 legislature candidates.

Four of those eight candidates no longer listed are from the
PPP: Yudo Paripurno (first candidate for Yogyakarta) who
resigned, and Abdul Hamid (West Java), Anwar Nuris (East Java),
Syaeful Ahmad Haulusy (Maluku) who died.

The other four names dropped from the final list were from
Golkar: Achmad Pawennei (South Sulawesi) and Wahyono (West Nusa
Tenggara) who backed off, and Abdul Rani Ramelan and Mochtar
Abdul Kadir from East Java who were dropped for "administrative
reasons". (aan)