Panwaslu vows to get tough action on early campaigners

Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Elections Supervisory Committee (Panwaslu) vowed on Friday to report to police any political parties displaying logos or election numbers during public gatherings, saying that any violation of the election campaign regulations should be dealt with firmly.

Panwaslu chairman Komaruddin Hidayat told a discussion that political activities organized before the official campaign period could be categorized as disguised election campaigning.

"If there are political activities that can be considered as early campaigning, Panwaslu will report to the national police," he said.

The official campaign period for legislative elections scheduled for April 5 would run from March 11 through April 1.

Komaruddin said the 24 parties contesting the 2004 elections have to abide by guidelines issued by KPU if they want to avoid being accused of violating campaign regulations when organizing political activities.

According to KPU guidelines, political activities organized before the official election campaign period should be strictly attended by party members, must not display party logos and must not disturb public order.

According to Komaruddin, political parties have exploited flaws in campaign regulations for disguised campaigns.

"They (political parties) often try to make use of the gray areas," said Komaruddin without elaborating.

At least three political parties -- the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), the United Development Party (PPP) and the National Awakening Party (PKB) had been reported to police for violating KPU recommendations.

PKB Secretary General Syaifullah Yusuf, who also addressed the discussion, said that his party would make no attempt to stop any legal process against the party for violating election regulations.

He also said his party would continue taking advantage of many loopholes in campaign regulations.

"Yes, the political parties will definitely take advantage of the flaws," he said without going into detail.

Meanwhile, Endin Soefihara of PPP acknowledged that his party had been using the party's youth wing for campaigning.

Since the youth wing was not an actual election contestant, he surmised, there should be no problem if they displayed banners in public places.

"Fortunately, the logo of the youth group is similar to that of the PPP," he said during the discussion.

In the discussion, Komaruddin also revealed that the Rectors' Forum had promised to deploy 160,000 students across the country to help Panwaslu carry out its job.

The participation of those students, Komaruddin said, would be very helpful given the fact that Panwaslu did not have staff in remote villages.

Panwaslu has nine members on its central board, seven at provincial chapters, five at regency offices, and three at district levels.