Panwaslu says campaign still on track

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Election Supervisory Committee (Panwaslu) has recorded a number of violations during the four-day-old campaign, most of which are minor ones, an official says.

"Of course there have been violations here and there, including some serious ones," said Saut H. Sirait, Panwaslu deputy chairman, on Sunday without giving exact figures.

He explained that most violations involved the installing of flags at prohibited locations, fighting among party supporters over sites at which to raise party flags and taking children to campaign sites.

In Yogyakarta, the local General Elections Committee (KPUD) sent a warning letter to the United Development Party (PPP) after some of its supporters stabbed a motorist on a road where campaign convoys were prohibited.

Police in Ambon, Maluku, reported earlier that 18 Golkar flags had been set alight by unidentified people on Thursday, the first day of campaigning.

Saut said the local Panwaslu would notify local KPUDs if it found campaign violations. If a case was considered a crime, it would be reported to the police.

Last Saturday, local Panwaslu officials in Jambi removed about 1,000 flags that had been erected in prohibited locations.

KPUDs have assigned locations where political parties may raise flags and streets on which convoys may pass.

On Sunday, the South Sumatra Panwaslu office reiterated its calls for party supporters not to take children to campaign sites for security reasons, Antara reported.

A day before, Panwaslu found that some Indonesia Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) supporters took along their children to a campaign session featuring party leader Megawati Soekarnoputri.

A four-year-old boy and a 15-year-old girl were hospitalized after a stage collapsed at the site.

"It's a clear-cut violation. Children might get hurt in unpredictable situations," said Nurcholis, deputy head of the local Panwaslu office.

He said his office had warned the party and should the party violate the rule again, it might be banned from campaigning in the province as it violated KPU regulation No. 701/2003.

Separately in Jakarta, the Indonesia Unity Party (PSI) accused the KPU and Panwaslu of failing to take firm action against big political parties violating election regulations.

PSI leader Rahardjo Tjakraningrat warned that it might set a bad precedent for a safe and peaceful campaign period.

He was referring to the multiparty parade on the first day of campaigning on Thursday, when the PDI-P deployed many vehicles, including trucks, to travel across the city despite the KPU setting a limit of six vehicles per party.