PAN supporters threaten to switch allegiance

PAN supporters threaten to switch allegiance

Ruslan Sangadji and Irvan NR, The Jakarta Post, Palu, Central Sulawesi

Local members of the National Mandate Party (PAN) here objected
on Saturday to the central board's selection of politicians to
top the party's list of legislative candidates representing
Central Sulawesi, as the candidates are not native to the
province.

Deputy chairman of PAN's Central Sulawesi chapter Baso Rustham
Effendi told a media conference the party's local supporters
would move to rival parties if Jakarta refused to revise the
list.

"The central board's refusal to make changes in the roster
will result in an exodus of PAN supporters here and will cost the
party a huge loss of support for its presidential candidate Amien
Rais," Effendi, better known as Abang, said.

PAN's central board of executives has submitted its list of
House of Representatives candidates to the General Elections
Commission (KPU), which saw Nurhadi Musawir head the list in
Central Sulawesi, ahead of local candidates Nadjamudin Ramli and
Tjatjo Thaha who are second and third respectively.

Nurhadi is a native of Yogyakarta.

The KPU has given only until Jan. 19 for the parties to make
any changes to their list of candidates.

The upcoming general election will adopt a new system in which
a voter will be asked to punch a party's logo and a candidate's
name, but a ballot paper will be considered valid even if only
the party's symbol is punched. As a result of the ruling,
candidates placed at the top of the list stand a greater chance
of winning legislative seats than those listed below.

Despite claims from political parties that selection of
legislative candidates started from the local party branches, it
was the central boards that had the final say.

PAN did not win any seat in the House from Central Sulawesi
and managed only to secure one seat in the provincial legislature
in the 1999 general election.

Separately, dozens of students grouped under the Alliance of
Banggai-Saluan Youths and Students (Babasal) rallied at the
Provincial Elections Commission (KPUD) in Palu to reject the
nomination of outsiders by some political parties as legislative
candidates representing Banggai-Bangkep regency.

"They (outsiders) do not know the character of the people they
will represent and have not proven their contribution to
development in our regency. How can they channel our
aspirations?" the group's chairman Irfan Bungaadjim said.

He said there were many native candidates who were more
competent than the outsiders.

"We need local figures, not strangers," he told KPUD
officials.

Central Sulawesi KPUD chairman Zainuddin Bolong asserted that
the unitary state of Indonesia did not recognize the dichotomy
between native and non-native figures.

"The demand indicates that nationalism has faded among the
younger generation while the nation is facing the threat of
disintegration," Zainuddin said.

The students dispersed peacefully after the dialog with KPUD
officials.