Official's wife faces punishment

YOGYAKARTA: The local elections committee will summon Mrs. Suharto, wife of the secretary to the Bantul regent, for allegedly abusing the housewives organization (PKK) she leads in favor of the Golkar Party.

She has allegedly persuaded the PKK members and wives of civil servants to vote for Golkar in the upcoming elections.

"Mrs. Suharto said that civil servants should not be afraid of supporting Golkar," committee chairman Achmad Affandi said Friday.

Affandi said Mrs. Suharto, a civil servant herself, had illegally campaigned for Golkar in the residence of the Bantul regent and in the residence of subdistrict chiefs.

In the past, it was mandatory for all civil servants to vote for Golkar. But after Soeharto's downfall, the policy was scrapped.

"We will reprimand Mrs. Suharto and file a complaint with her superiors over her illegal activity," Affandi said. (swa/44)