Parties told to adopt to new law before elections
Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Political parties contesting the 2004 general elections are urged to meet requirements stipulated in Law No. 31/2002 on political parties immediately, so as not to disrupt the preparations for the elections.
After fulfilling the requirements, the status of those political parties will be verified by the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights and the General Elections Commission (KPU).
Unfortunately, Law No. 31/2002 gives until September for political parties to comply with the legislation.
KPU member Hamid Awaluddin criticized the ruling, which he said was too lenient.
"I am worried that all parties will wait until September for verification. If this happens, it will create a burden for the KPU and may disrupt the schedule," Hamid said in a discussion here.
Ryaas Rasyid, an architect of the 1999 elections, shared Hamid's view.
"Why has the government given such a long adaptation period? We must remember that we have limited time," Ryaas said at the same discussion.
They were commenting on the transitory provision of Law No. 31/2002 that stipulates that all political parties are required to comply with the law within nine months of its endorsement.
The new rules require political parties to have a legal certificate, platform, executive boards in 50 percent of the total number of provinces, and 50 percent of the regencies.
Hamid, a lecturer at the Hasanuddin University in South Sulawesi, added that the transitory provision could encourage political parties to delay verification until September.
He hoped that all political parties contesting in the elections would be ready for verification by March this year.
According to him, 237 political parties are registered at the justice ministry. Those parties will undergo administrative verification before undergoing further verification by KPU to obtain their "passport" to contest in the elections.
Ryaas who chairs the newly founded Nation's Democratic Party (PDB) also questioned how the KPU would verify the requirement in the election bill that all parties must have 1,000 members in each regency.
He emphasized it would not be difficult for political parties to have 1,000 members at the regency level, but he questioned how the KPU would verify it.
"This is a technical matter, but it can affect substantial issues," Ryaas said, demanding that legislators deliberating the bill downsize the rule to 100 members.
Commenting on the demand, deputy chairman of a committee deliberating the elections bill, Chozin Chumaidy, said that the article was open for discussion since it had not been passed into law.
According to Chozin, the inclusion of that article was needed to ensure the political parties contesting the elections have supporters at the grassroots level.
He said that legislators were working on several crucial issues, including synthesizing the proportional system with the open-list of candidates, restrictions for state officials to join campaign and electoral threshold.
The electoral threshold provision stipulates that political parties that contested in the 1999 elections and won less than 2 percent of seats at the House are not allowed to contest in the 2004 elections.