PDI and PPP cold shoulder Golkar vote offer

JAKARTA (JP): The prospect of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) being given more seats in the House of Representatives faded yesterday as it and the United Development Party (PPP) failed to warm to the plan.

The PPP said the proposal was unlawful, and the PDI continued to reject the idea outright.

PPP chairman Ismail Hasan Metareum said that any such consensus "should be included in the electoral laws".

"Otherwise, we must have the laws reviewed," he said at the party's headquarters in Central Jakarta.

Ismail said the PPP central board had written to Minister of Home Affairs Moch. Yogie S.M. to suggest a review. Yogie is the chairman of the General Elections Committee.

The proposal to increase PDI's number of seats came from Golkar's chairman Harmoko after the PDI won only 10 House seats in the May 29 general election. Golkar has been in power for more than 25 years.

House regulations imply that a party must hold at least 13 seats because all three parties and the Armed Forces faction in the House should deliberate every decision it makes.

Provisional results issued by the General Elections Institute show that Golkar has won 325 seats in the House, PPP 89 and PDI 10 after the counting of about 115 million ballots.

Harmoko yesterday renewed his offer to give Golkar's excess votes to the PDI.

"The Golkar central board has unanimously agreed to grant its excess votes to PDI," he told reporters after chairing a limited meeting on election strategy at the party's headquarters.

But he insisted that votes should only be granted with the PPP's and PDI's approval.

Harmoko said the number of seats that Golkar would offer depended on a consensus to be reached by the three parties.

"We have not formally met each other. How can I tell you the results of the consensus?" he said.

"Golkar has not decided where the votes to be granted should be allocated from," he added.

There had been speculation that Golkar would give three seats to the PDI, from the provinces of North Sumatra, Jakarta and South Sulawesi.

In a related development, an elections committee delegation visited the PPP headquarters yesterday to discuss the announcement of final election results on June 23.

Ismail said the delegation, led by the committee's secretary- general Suryatna Subrata, had also discussed Golkar's vote- trading proposal.

"I told Suryatna the PPP's stance would be decided at a central board meeting within these days (before June 23)," he said.

Harmoko's proposal to give votes to the PDI has also met strong opposition from human rights activists and political analysts.

"By transferring its votes to PDI, Golkar will be disobeying its voters mandate," A.A. Baramuli of the National Commission on Human Rights said yesterday.

"Golkar has violated voters' basic rights," he said.

Political analysts Riswandha Imawan and Alexander Irwan said the government should not help the PDI increase its House seats because it was "unethical".

"There is no way out of this difficult situation. Just let it be," Alexander said.

"People vote for their favorite party, not for their party's rivals," he said.

Some analysts have suggested that the next House modify its 14-year-old internal rules to allow decision making to proceed without the PDI's presence.

But Alexander said that changing the House rules would only confirm the government's political domination over the House.

"Some unexpected elements surfaced in the recent election, but they did nothing but give greater legitimacy to the ruling party," he said.

Alexander and Riswandha said the ousted PDI leader Megawati Soekarnoputri was the other winner in the election, which saw the government-sanctioned PDI leadership under Soerjadi torn apart. (imn/amd)