PBB assembles Muslim clerics support for polls

JAKARTA (JP): The Crescent Star Party is gearing up for the June 7 general election by establishing a team of strategists and soliciting the support of Muslim clerics.

Widely considered to have the potential to be a serious poll contender, the party, led by constitutional law expert Yusril Ihza Mahendra, will focus its campaign on pesantren (Islamic boarding schools) across the country.

According to the Ministry of Religious Affairs, Indonesia has at least 9,388 pesantren with 1,770,768 students. The leaders of these schools, kyai, often command great respect in their respective communities.

The Crescent Star Party's strategies were revealed on Friday by deputy chairman Fadli Zon on the sidelines of the party's congress at Taman Mini Indonesia Indah in East Jakarta. The gathering was opened on Thursday evening and will end on Sunday.

Regarding the competition with other Islamic parties in winning the support of the pesantren, Fadli said, "It's a kind of race to fight for what is good."

To win the support of the Islamic boarding schools, the party, according to Fadli, plans to hold joint seminars with the kyai on various topics and visit pesantren across the country.

Fadli also said the party would establish a voter corps at the national, provincial and regency levels. The corps would nominate the party's legislative candidates.

"Even the chairman of the Crescent and Star Party may not become a legislator if he hasn't received enough votes from the voter corps," Fadli said, adding that this process would force legislative candidates to campaign door-to-door to garner the support of the voter corps.

Fadli said the process was democratic because it prioritized the aspirations of the grassroots.

Fadli said the party's presidential candidate also would be determined by the voter corps throughout Indonesia.

"It is like a poll within the party," Fadli said.

Meanwhile, Yusril said on Friday that the Crescent Star Party would allow members to name their own presidential candidate, who did not necessarily have to be the chairman of the party.

"It is up to the party's supporters to determine their president candidate," Yusril said.

Meanwhile, in Semarang, Central Java, Adi Andojo, a member of the Team of Eleven in charge of examining and selecting eligible poll contestants, said he suspected some political parties had attempted to bypass the team's inspections.

After checking the branches and chapters of seven political parties in Semarang, Adi said that a number of parties returned the required examination forms just before the Feb. 27 deadline, giving the team little time to examine them.

The examinations must be completed no later than March 2.

If parties return the forms after Feb. 27, they will not be allowed to contest the elections, he stated.

The following are some of the activities of political parties across the country:

The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) and the National Mandate Party (PAN) accused the ruling Golkar of using money to attract voters.

The East Nusa Tenggara chapters of PAN and PDI Perjuangan said in Kupang on Friday that the deputy chairman of Golkar's board of advisers, A.A. Baramuli, distributed money to village chiefs during his recent visit to Central Timor, Antara reported.

The chairman of PAN's East Nusa Tenggara, Chris Bro Tokan, said that Golkar had broken a general agreement to conduct a free and fair poll.

Frans Lebu, the secretary of PDI Perjuangan's chapter in East Nusa Tenggara, said that Golkar's actions were unethical.

Both made their statements based on press reports that Golkar members meeting in the districts of Bajawa and Manggarai used government facilities. It was during these meetings that Baramuli was alleged to have distributed money to village chiefs

In Pekanbaru, Riau, the rector of the Sultan Syarif Qasim State Institute of Islamic Studies, Amir Luthfi, said he would not allow any political parties to hold campaigns on the campus, citing the possibility of unrest.

"It would harm the learning-teaching process," he said as quoted by Antara.

He added that although Minister of Education and Culture Juwono Sudarsono had stated that campuses could be used for campaigning, it did not mean that every university would agree to the practice.

Instead, he suggested a panel discussion featuring speakers from political parties. "It will be okay if we only meet with the leaders of political parties and discuss certain problems to find solutions for them," he said. (har/01/swe)