Party codes of conduct needed to prevent violence

Party codes of conduct needed to prevent violence

Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Calls have mounted for political parties and the government to draft codes of conduct following the fatal clashes between supporters of Golkar and the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) in Buleleng, Bali, last Sunday.

Analyst Syamsuddin Haris of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) said on Wednesday that such codes of conduct must be drawn up to avoid party supporters engaging in violence.

"All parties, facilitated by the General Elections Commission, must sit down together to draw up codes of conduct setting out what party supporters can do and what they can't do," Syamsuddin told The Jakarta Post.

With the absence of such codes of conduct, parties could easily send their supporters out onto the streets people to engage in antisocial behavior without any fear of being punished, Syamsuddin said.

"These codes of conduct should be treated as ruling that are binding on every party, in addition to the laws and KPU decrees," he said.

However, he doubted that the parties would soon produce such codes.

Syamsuddin was responding to a question on what action should be taken after the clashes between the PDI Perjuangan supporters between Golkar supporters in Bali.

At least two Golkar members were killed in the incidents.

KPU deputy chairman Ramlan Surbakti said a forum of party leaders was necessary to continuously promote non-violence among their supporters.

According to Ramlan, such a forum could learn from the experience of similar forums in the 1999 elections, which helped to minimize clashes among party supporters.

"Before the election campaign starts in March next year, the political parties can set up a forum to promote non-violent activities," Ramlan said.

He also said that KPU planned to cooperate with non- governmental organizations (NGO) and public figures to convey its message of non-violence.

According to him, KPU would likely issue a ruling on campaigning by the end of this year, but this would only be binding on the parties during the campaign period in March next year.

Separately, Didik Supriyanto of the Election Supervisory Committee (Panwaslu) also urged party leaders to instruct their followers to carry out peaceful rallies.

He also said that the KPU should immediately issue a ruling regulating party activities before and during the campaign period to help avoid clashes between party supporters.

"These two concrete measures are necessary so that a repeat of the Buleleng incident will not happen," Didik said.

He added that a ruling from the KPU on party activities outside the campaign period was needed by the supervisory committee to monitor party activities and take action against those who violated the ruling.

So far, the committee must use other regulations, such as bylaws and the Criminal Code (KUHP), against political parties that engage in campaigning outside the official campaign period, said Didik.

For example, he said, a bylaw in Jakarta could be used to force parties to remove their flags from the streets of Jakarta.