PDI members told to cast their votes

JAKARTA (JP): The government-backed leadership of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) joined the chorus yesterday against calls for a boycott of the election.

The PDI chairman Soerjadi said in a speech delivered in the party's 24th anniversary celebration in Sigli, Aceh, on Sunday that the leadership of the PDI had always encouraged party members to vote.

"We call on all eligible citizens to vote for whatever political party they like. They should exercise their basic political rights," Soerjadi told some 3,000 party cadres and local residents who attended the celebration.

The party has split into two groups following last June's government-supported congress in Medan in which Megawati Soekarnoputri was deposed with Soerjadi replacing her in the top job.

Megawati has ordered her supporters to keep their election registration cards. Some aides have implied that some Megawati sympathizers may abstain from the election process, as pro- Megawati candidates have been declared invalid.

The general election will take place on May 29, in which the PDI will contest against Golkar and the United Development Party (PPP). They will vote for 425 seats in the House of Representatives.

Soerjadi said that people who cast their ballots on the polling day will elect their representatives who will draw up the Guidelines of the State Policy for the 1998-2003 period.

"If you don't vote, you will be excluded from the making of the five-year state policy guidelines, which once passed, will affect everybody," he said, as quoted in Antara as saying.

Soerjadi's visit to Aceh was part of the party's consolidation program in the run-up to the election.

The poll contestants will hold election campaigns from April 27 to May 23. (amd)