PAN not adverse to election postponement

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)