PDI-P, Golkar, PPP told to return state assets
Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
At least 13 political parties are seeking the revocation of the legal status of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), Golkar, and the United Development Party (PPP) for their continued use of state-owned buildings as offices.
The parties filed a petition with the Elections Supervisory Committee (Panwaslu) on Monday urging the committee to send a letter to the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights to revoke the legal status of the three parties should they fail to return the facilities to the government or if the government did not seize the assets.
Revoking the legitimacy of the three parties would automatically disqualify them from next year's elections when the country is scheduled to hold its first direct presidential election. Indonesia will organize a legislative election in April and direct presidential election in July 2004.
The justice and human rights ministry declares a political party eligible to contest the election if it has offices in at least half of the country's 32 provinces and in half of regencies in those provinces.
Political parties seeking the revocation of the legal status of the three parties included the National Awakening Party (PKB), the National Mandate Party (PAN), the Reform Star Party (PBR), the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), the Freedom Party, the Marhaenisme Indonesian National Party (PNI Marhaenisme) and the Freedom Bull National Party (PNBK).
Deputy secretary-general of PKS Fachri Hamzah and Ade Nasution of PBR were two leading figures in the coalition that went to Panwaslu to hand over their petition.
"If the government fails to seize the state assets used by those three parties or the three parties do not return the assets to the government in the next three days, we demand that Panwaslu sends a letter to the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights to revoke the legal status of those parties," Effi Kuswita, secretary-general of Muslimah in the Indonesia Islamic Party (PII), read the statement of the 13 parties.
Ikhsan Abdullah, a lawyer who leads the legal advocacy institute of PKB, said that Golkar and PPP's central executive boards have used state facilities as their offices since 1991.
He also said that the North Jakarta and West Jakarta chapters of PDI Perjuangan had also used state-owned buildings since 1999.
"Although the government (through the state secretary) has said that the offices of PPP and Golkar were no longer state facilities based on a government instruction, legally the government cannot just say such a thing. Why are state facilities given to parties just like that?"
He insisted that since the three parties were still using state facilities, they had breached the Election Law that prohibited parties from using state facilities.
Those parties had also violated Agrarian Law No. 5/1960, which stipulates that only individuals and legal entities are allowed to manage land, Ikhsan said.
"We all know that those parties have no legal status unless the law on political parties says so," he said.
Panwaslu chairman Komaruddin Hidayat welcomed the report, but the 13 parties have to clarify their report.
"This is an opportunity for the three parties to prove they are reformist. If the report is true they have to return the assets to the government, but if it is not true they have to give solid evidence," Komaruddin said.
He said Panwaslu would need time to analyze the report and consult its lawyers.
Prior to this case, Panwaslu had reported PKB and PPP to the police for campaigning ahead of the campaign period from March 11 to April 1, 2004.