Parties to encourage members to register for election soon

Parties to encourage members to register for election soon

JAKARTA (JP): Executives of provincial chapters of several
major political parties in the capital insisted on Tuesday that
they would directly encourage their cadres here to voluntarily
register for the upcoming June 7 general election as soon as
possible.

Contacted separately by The Jakarta Post on Tuesday, senior
executives of Jakarta chapters of the Justice and Unity Party
(PKP), the New Indonesian Party (PIB), the United Party (PP) and
the National Mandate Party (PAN) said that such active
participation of the party's executives and board members was
badly needed due to the sluggish response of city residents to
register for the election.

According to head of PP Jakarta chapter Muhammad Banang, all
political parties, including PP, should work harder to encourage
people to participate in the poll, in which the competition would
be much tighter than before due to the huge number of the
contestants.

"Moreover, it's the parties which need the people's votes,"
Banang said.

His party, he said, has instructed its 22 local executives
here to accompany Jakartans, in particular PP devotees, for the
registration process.

Banang strongly denied the possibility of the political
parties to practice money politics while escorting the people to
the registration points.

"It's only a registration process. Thus, no one could
guarantee that these people will automatically vote for us, they
why should we give them money for the registration?" he asked.

Head of PKP Jakarta chapter Subagyo said all cadres of his
party in the city have been encouraged to voluntarily register
for the poll which is one of the party's pre-election programs.

"Our cadres are also instructed to actively motivate other
people in any occasion and at any places to go to the
registration points for the election," Subagyo said.

He added that he strongly believed that people participation
in the upcoming election would be much lower compared to the
previous 1997 poll as people, particularly Jakartans, still
focused on how to survive in this prolonged economic crisis.

In the last poll, he said, about 11.92 percent out of 5.6
million eligible voters in the city did not vote.

The June election this year has been estimated to be
participated in by some 5.8 million voters of Jakarta.

Until the second day of the eight-day registration period on
Tuesday, only a very few Jakartans were seen to register for the
poll.

Door-to-door

According to Subagyo, should his party's approach still bore
negative results, PKP would form a special team with the help of
registration officials to directly visit any Jakartans eligible
to vote.

"I think all political parties should also do the same thing
(door-to-door visit) as people's participation in the upcoming
poll is desperately needed to determine the country's future," he
said.

Secretary of PIB Jakarta chapter Syaiful Anwar said that his
Islamic-based political party have already started encouraging
people to join the registration process through mosques and other
religious gatherings.

Head of PAN Jakarta chapter's research and development
department, Amir Hamzah said that his party would even establish
groups of PAN cadres to safeguard registration places from any
possible clashes between parties' followers.

"The groups hopefully will help smoothen the registration
process such as to avoid people mocking at each other while
registering themselves," Amir said.

From Bogor, south of here, an official at the local social and
political office said on Tuesday that the vote registration
period would be started sometime next week due to the lack of
preparation.

"The District Poll Committee (PPK) has not yet been
established, let alone the Subdistrict Poll Committee (PPS)," he
said.

According to deputy secretary of Bogor Elections Committee
Irfan Maulidi, the PPK would be set up on Thursday and PPS two
days later.

"I'll propose that the vote registration to be conducted
starting on Sunday although it's a holiday due to the limited
time," he said.

The same news with the same reasons also came from Tangerang,
west of here. (ind/24/41)