Parties abusing campaign ruling to be disqualified

Parties abusing campaign ruling to be disqualified

JAKARTA (JP): Political parties will be disqualified from the
June general election if proven guilty of violating or ignoring
campaign rules, scheduled to be passed by the General Elections
Commission (KPU) on Thursday.

National Elections Committee (PPI) chairman Jacob Tobing said
disqualification would be the maximum penalty against parties
breaching the campaign rules. Authority to impose sanctions will
lie with the Election Supervisory Committee.

"The Election Supervisory Committee is expected to be a fair
referee in handling violations in all phases of the election
process," he told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

Jacob, also deputy chairman of the Indonesian Democratic Party
of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), said parties would be held
responsible for violations and clashes involving their supporters
during the campaign period scheduled from May 18 to June 4.

Parties would be considered to have failed in curbing their
supporters, he said. PDI Perjuangan supporters have also been
involved in a number of recent clashes.

Jacob said parties would also be barred from mobilizing their
supporters in open fields, or moving them from one regency or
mayoralty to others in an effort to prevent brawls.

"The National Police, which will be in charge of security
during the campaign season, is expected to be strict against any
violations of the campaign rules ... We should learn from bad
experiences from general elections in the past."

The 1997 elections also barred campaigning at open sites, but
problems arose during transportation of supporters to and from
rallies.

Supporters of various parties have already started riding in
open trucks to and from party functions, without reprimands from
the police.

Jacob was confident the KPU could help avoid clashes.

In line with fears of clashes, campaigns may be restricted to
dialogs in closed arenas, a measure which would inevitably limit
the numbers of participants.

"The campaign schedule for all 48 parties will be designed so
well that no clashes between party supporters will occur during
the campaign season," he said.

Campaign themes will be also limited to contestants' programs
and outlooks "which are not against the 1945 Constitution and the
national development program" apart from state ideology
Pancasila, he said.

Jacob said that the election commission would also issue "11
commands" for political parties, inclusive of activities of their
supporters and campaigners.

These would include barring campaigners and supporters from
debating the 1945 Constitution, attacking individuals, religion,
ethnicity, race and other parties, inciting violence, bringing
guns, issuing threats of violence, inciting supporters to commit
subversion, campaigning in streets and damaging party banners and
flags installed in permitted sites.

Central Java party officials have said that hundreds of their
banners and flags have been damaged by supporters of other
parties.

Election rules also bar parties from recruiting all government
and military officials, including ministers, for campaigning
during the elections.

KPU deputy chairman Adnan Buyung Nasution said that there was
no substantive reason to bar ministers or other officials from
campaigning for their parties. He added it was their moral
obligation to fight for their political loyalties, acknowledging
it was not unusual for ministers to campaign in democratic
countries such as the United States, France and Canada.

"But the ban has been made because ... the nation is still
traumatized by the bad experience ... when many officials used
state facilities to campaign for their party," he said.

Jacob warned officials, including village chiefs and
subdistrict heads, against intimidating people into voting for
particular parties.

Political parties should also watch the registration of
prospective voters by authorized election staff, he said, with
the process to run from April 4 through May 4.

He said the election committee also simplified the requirement
for registration. People lacking identity cards will be allowed
to show citizenship letters from their neighborhood chiefs.

He added the election committee's 60 members would visit the
provinces on Thursday to install provincial election committees.
They will subsequently install regional committees in regencies
and mayoralties. (rms)