PDI won't boycott 1997 elections

PDI won't boycott 1997 elections

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) will not boycott the general election in 1997, despite sharing the grievances expressed by the United Development Party (PPP), some branches of which have threatened to boycott the election.

"The PDI will take part in the election no matter what happens and I don't think I need to say more than that," PDI chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri said yesterday in Bandar Lampung, Lampung, as quoted by Antara.

Megawati was commenting on the threat made by five provincial branches of the PPP this week that they will boycott the election unless the government guarantees that the polls will be conducted in a fair and just manner.

Leaders of the PPP's branches in Aceh, Bengkulu, Jakarta, South Kalimantan and Central Kalimantan -- all solid PPP bases -- announced their position during a party leadership meeting near Jakarta.

The PPP and the PDI have complained that the election regulations and procedures have been designed to ensure that Golkar wins the election by a wide margin. In 1992, Golkar took 68 percent of the votes, the PPP 17 percent and the PDI 15 percent.

At the end of the meeting on Wednesday, PPP leaders reiterated their demand for a clean and fair election and demanded that the government punish those who break the laws.

Meanwhile, a political analyst and former leader of Golkar's Central Java branch, said yesterday that the government should heed the boycott threat, given that it comes from strong PPP branches.

Soehardjo, a constitutional law expert at Diponegoro University in Semarang, Central Java, told Antara that the government should make the effort necessary to ensure a clean and fair election.

Soehardjo said complaints from the minority parties about the way past elections have been conducted were to be expected. "It's part of a dynamic political development, especially with an election year approaching. But still, the government should reflect on their complaints," he said.

He also urged the government to take notice of another complaint made by PPP leaders during their recent meeting: that one of the three organizations set to contest the election had been mobilizing civil servants and school pupils for its political gatherings, called "cadres meetings".

While the PPP was careful not to name any party, its remark was widely understood to refer to Golkar. (emb)