Parties gears up for election campaign opener
JAKARTA (JP): Top figures of the three political parties will begin campaigning in different areas throughout the country Sunday, with Golkar parading its trump cards.
Golkar chairman Harmoko is due to deliver a speech in Lebak, a small town in West Java about 100 kilometers west of here.
A thousand miles away in Medan, North Sumatra, chairman of the United Development Party (PPP) Ismail Hasan Metareum will take to the stage to mark the opening of the party's election campaign.
The conflict-ridden Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) will begin its campaign with a public rally in Pontianak, West Kalimantan, featuring its chairman Soerjadi.
An election campaign itinerary will be announced today.
The nationwide campaign period will end on May 23, giving Golkar, the PPP and the PDI 27 days to offer their respective programs.
Members of the Golkar board of patrons, who are also cabinet ministers, are expected to accompany Harmoko in opening the campaign.
Wardiman Djojonegoro, currently Minister of Education and Culture, is set to team up with the State Minister of Development Planning Ginandjar Kartasasmita.
Fellow cabinet ministers, the Coordinating Minister for Production and Distribution Hartarto and Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Hayono Isman, will make a trip to Central Java.
The Minister of Agrarian Affairs Sony Harsono will speak in Yogyakarta, the Minister of Tourism, Post and Telecommunications Joop Ave will visit Maluku while the minister of administrative reforms will tour the country's easternmost province Irian Jaya.
Former vice president and Golkar chairman Sudharmono and fellow senior Golkar figure Suhardiman will support Hartarto in Central Java.
Harmoko, who has made an across-the-archipelago trip during fasting month a tradition since he took office in 1983, will fly to Lhokseumawe, Aceh on Monday.
The General Election Institute has introduced the zoning system in this year's election, the seventh held since independence. Each political party is obliged to conduct its campaign in two specially designated regions each day.
This allows a political group to hold two campaigns in different towns on the same day.
The regulation divides the country into six campaign regions: region I is for provinces in Sumatra; region II for provinces in Java; region III for provinces in Bali, West and East Nusa Tenggara and East Timor; region IV for provinces in Kalimantan; region V for provinces in Sulawesi; and region VI for the provinces of Maluku and Irian Jaya.
The zoning aims to prevent supporters of one political group from encountering another, thereby reducing the potential for conflict.
Meanwhile, the ousted chief of PDI, Megawati Soekarnoputri, said in a statement yesterday that her camp will not participate in any election campaign activities.
She said her camp had "in a responsible manner" followed all preparatory stages of general elections, including naming its legislature candidates, which the election organizer rejected.
"We all have to keep fighting together for a democratic and constitutional elections," she said. (amd)