People urged to ignore calls for poll boycott

SEMARANG (JP): The campaign against abstaining in the May 29 general election is intensifying, with a Moslem leader and a human rights figure being the latest figures urging people to vote.

Muladi, a member of the National Commission on Human Rights, asked the public yesterday to ignore suggestions to boycott the election.

"As good citizens none of us should join the poll boycotters, although to some extent we might feel dissatisfaction with the election," said Muladi, also rector of the state-run Diponegoro University here.

He did not refer to anyone in particular but the government is mounting a campaign against groups who have called for an election boycott. Security authorities in several provinces have seized anonymous leaflets encouraging people to boycott the election.

"To err is human, and so is the government. But no government intends to destroy its own state," Muladi said.

President Soeharto joined the election boycott debate on his visit to Aceh Thursday. He said that anybody was entitled not to vote but the abstainers, better known as the 'white group', could not later file complaints about the election outcome.

Soeharto also warned that those who incited others not to vote would face punitive measures.

Election participation in Indonesia has always exceeded 90 percent since 1971. Analysts estimated that one million people did not vote five years ago.

A recent survey by the Indonesian National Youth Committee in Malang, East Java, revealed that 85 percent of youths in the area would not vote in the coming election.

Muladi agreed with Soeharto, saying that citizens had the right not to vote. "But encouraging others to skip voting is a serious violation of the election laws and could be described as subversion," he said.

Sacked legislator Sri Bintang Pamungkas, who established the unrecognized Indonesian Democratic Union Party last year, is currently being prosecuted under the 1963 Subversion Law for distributing Idul Fitri greeting cards containing a call to boycott the election.

Amien Rais, chairman of the 28 million-strong Muhammadiyah, urged members in Surabaya to exercise their right to vote.

"Whatever people think of the election rules, they should not breach the 1945 Constitution. Taking part in the election means that we follow the Constitution," he said.

Amien, who hit the headlines when he resigned from an influential post in the Association of Indonesian Moslem Intellectuals recently, said Thursday the upcoming election's possible shortcomings should not be used as an excuse not to vote.

Abdurrachman Wahid, chairman of the country's largest Moslem organization Nahdlatul Ulama, urged his supporters Wednesday to take part in the election, saying that the five-yearly poll was of supreme national interest.

"A person who ignores the election would not meet the standards of being a good citizen and Moslem," he said. (har/nur/amd)