Fri, 30 Apr 1999

Parties have yet to submit their legislative candidates

JAKARTA (JP): The National Elections Committee (PPI) said on Thursday with the deadline for the registration of legislative candidates drawing near, none of the 48 parties contesting the June 7 general election had submitted their list of candidates.

PPI has extended the registration deadline from April 27 to May 4.

PPI chairman Jacob Tobing said any delay in submitting legislative candidates would result in the careless examination of nominees by the PPI.

"We will be pressed for time and with thousands of files to examine, mistakes very possibly will happen," Jacob, also the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle's (PDI Perjuangan) representative on the General Elections Commission (KPU), said.

Jacob said parties had a tendency to wait until the last minute to register their legislative candidates, creating a burden for the committee.

"I'm afraid this trend will seriously trouble us because it could hamper the overall process of the election," he said.

Jacob said due to time restrictions, PPI would have to rely on each party's honesty in conducting the administrative screening of legislative candidates.

The law on elections stipulates a legislative candidate must have no link to the banned Indonesian Communist Party. Candidates also must pledge their allegiance to Pancasila as the state ideology and the 1945 Constitution.

However, Jacob said parties faced a number of difficulties in drafting their lists of legislative candidates, adding some parties did not even have enough members to nominate.

A candidate is only allowed to run for a legislative seat at the administrative level. This means a candidate must choose to represent his or her party in the House of Representatives and the provincial and regency legislatures.

Separately, Golkar legislator Priyo Budi Santoso said the ruling party would pick only quality legislative candidates who enjoyed popular support.

"It's no use to have a quality candidate who lacks the support of the people" Priyo, who will be a legislative candidate from Cilacap in Central Java, said.

He said Golkar Party insisted KPU require all legislative candidates have at least a junior high school education in order to accommodate people's aspiration.

Minority

In Semarang, a number of Muslim-based parties or those courting the Muslim vote have nominated Chinese-Indonesians and non-Muslims as legislative candidates.

The National Mandate Party (PAN) named Alvin Lie and Hengki Prasetyo, both of Chinese descent, as legislative candidates. It also nominated a Catholic figure, Tukiman Taruna, for the House of Representatives. PAN, led by Amien Rais, is one of the parties counting on the Muslim vote.

The secretary of the National Awakening Party's (PKB) Central Java chapter, Abdul Kadir, said he had listed a number of Chinese-Indonesians as legislative candidates, including Gautama Setiadi, who is the chapter's treasurer.

The United Development Party (PPP) also picked "a considerable number" of Chinese-Indonesians to represent the party in the June polls. The deputy chief of the PPP chapter in Central Java, Daromi Irdjas, said the names of the candidates would remain secret until party executives submitted the list of candidates to the PPI and provincial and regional elections committees.

The deputy chief of the Crescent Star Party's Central Java chapter, Muhadi Udin, said the party had selected some of its legislative candidates from minority communities.

Meanwhile, sociologist Iwan Gardono Sudjatmiko of the University of Indonesia reiterated the need for the public to be made aware of the backgrounds of legislative candidates.

"Public inquiry about a candidate is a must because people must be sure about their representatives who will determine some crucial issues, including the next president," he said. (har/edt)