PAN not adverse to election postponement

JAKARTA (JP): The National Mandate Party (PAN) accepts the possibility of a delay in the general election scheduled for June 7, should arrangements for the polls be incomplete.

"PAN supports the idea to postpone the general election for three weeks at the longest if poll preparations are incomplete," chairman Amien Rais said in a meeting with supporters in North Jakarta on Sunday.

However, he said the delay should not be prolonged past three weeks, citing the potential for public unrest.

Separately, chairman of the Masyumi Party Abdullah Hehamahua agreed, saying his party would support a deferral for one month to allow the General Elections Commission (KPU) to finish preparations for the event.

Law No.3/1999 on General Elections says delayed polls may take place within a maximum of 30 days after the scheduled ballot day.

Secretary-General of the Independent Election Monitoring Committee (KIPP) Mulyana W. Kusumah, has predicted elections are unlikely to take place in 10 percent of the country's 243 regencies due to their vulnerability to unrest.

The Election Supervisory Committee (Panwaslak) said over the weekend preparations for the elections were 50 percent realized. The official supervision committee said it was optimistic the polls would proceed in accordance to schedule.

Meanwhile, KPU chairman Rudini said it would be difficult to revise the legislative seat allotment for Irian Jaya and Maluku, in order to take into account the recent government decision to split the two regions into additional provinces.

"The elections' deferral could be tolerated for a month at the longest," he said in Ujungpandang, the capital of South Sulawesi on Saturday.

The commission had decided to allocate six seats for Maluku and 13 seats for Irian Jaya when the government decided last week to expand the two provinces.

"Meeting the government's request would mean retracting the decision the commission has already issued on the allocation of legislative seats for the two provinces and this will take time," Rudini said.

However, the Ministry of Home Affair's Director General for Regional Autonomy Ryaas Rasyid, insisted on Saturday KPU review its earlier decision.

"KPU must discuss the new development in its plenary session," Ryaas said.

Candidates

Meanwhile, Megawati Soekarnoputri, chairwoman of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) said she had accepted her nomination as the legislative candidate for South Jakarta.

Speaking at a party function in South Jakarta on Sunday, she said she accepted the nomination only after the head of PDI Perjuangan's South Jakarta chapter, Audi OJ Tambunan, guaranteed he would lead the party that won the most votes in the mayoralty.

PDI Perjuangan's deputy chairman Kwik Kian Gie was nominated a legislative candidate for West Jakarta, while the party's treasurer, Laksamana Soekardi, was nominated for West Java.

At the gathering, Megawati also received moral support and allegiance from a group of veterans who fought Dutch troops in an operation to seize West Papua in the early 1960s. The veterans also nominated Megawati as their presidential candidate.

Megawati will face Golkar Party counterpart Akbar Tandjung for votes in Jakarta. Akbar announced at a party function in Lebak, West Java, that he had been nominated by Golkar's Jakarta chapter. Earlier Golkar's Bogor branch asked him to represent the West Java regency.

Antara reported from Surabaya, East Java, on Saturday that Minister of Home Affairs Syarwan Hamid had issued a radiogram banning provincial administration officials -- from governors down to district heads and mayors -- to make unofficial trips until after the polls.

The move was revealed on Saturday by East Java Governor Imam Utomo.

"Officials are not allowed to leave their offices, except if they have important appointments, for instance, with the central government. District heads and mayors are allowed to meet their respective governor for official business," Imam said when installing second-echelon officials on Saturday.

"But they must postpone unnecessary programs such as traveling abroad prior to the polls."

Separately, Yogyakarta Governor Sultan Hamengkubuwono X said on Saturday he would help fight rival parties to seek more legislative seats for the province.

"I will send an official letter to Minister of Home Affairs Syarwan Hamid on Monday to seek additional legislative seats for the province," he said.

KPU has allocated only six seats for the province, but Nur Achmad Affandi, chairman of the Yogyakarta chapter of PDI Perjuangan, said the province deserved seven or eight seats because its population had reached 3.25 million. (prb/nur/27/30/44/rms)