Parties have yet to submit their legislative candidates
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)