PKB, PPP warn against poll sabotage

PKB, PPP warn against poll sabotage

SEMARANG (JP): Leading Muslim parties the National Awakening
Party (PKB) and the United Development Party (PPP) warned on
Thursday that certain groups intend to thwart the coming general
election.

PKB chairman Matori Abdul Djalil and his PPP counterpart
Hamzah Haz said on separate occasions that the sabotage attempts
could be traced to those responsible for engineering the recent
series of bloody clashes leading up to the elections.

"Those people instigated the violence because they fear that
the elections will cost them the privileges they now enjoy. They
are afraid they will have to relinquish their positions to cadres
of winning parties," Matori told 5,000 activists and sympathizers
who flocked to the party's branch office in Semarang regency.

Sporadic clashes in the past few months have compounded the
troubles of economically stricken Indonesia. Many believe more
conflicts are on the horizon as the elections draw near.

Matori, who was presiding over inauguration of the executives
of PKB's Semarang office, said that groups defending the status
quo worry in particular about PKB winning the elections.

PKB, established by the country's largest Muslim organization,
Nahdlatul Ulama, has been dubbed a favorite to win the most votes
in the elections scheduled for June 7.

Matori told PKB activists to remain vigilant of administrative
loopholes which could be exploited by the bureaucracy, which in
the past were controlled by ruling party Golkar.

"Those who face problems while applying for identity cards
please contact the nearest PKB offices. We can no longer tolerate
such a practice," Matori told the crowd. The polls are restricted
to Indonesian citizens of 17 years old or above.

Matori also encouraged Indonesian Chinese to join the party,
saying that PKB will work toward national unity and harmony among
the country's diverse ethnic groups. "There will be no shops
looted or churches attacked if PKB wins," he said.

In Bandung, PPP chairman Hamzah Haz said the elections must go
on, otherwise the nation would miss a chance to resolve the many
problems it has endured for more than three decades.

"Economic and political injustice reigned supreme in the past
32 years. If we cannot hold the elections, we cannot escape the
burdens either," Hamzah said at the opening of an executive
meeting of PPP's West Java office on Thursday.

Hamzah warned PPP activists in the province to keep an eye on
any attempts to provoke them.

"Don't ever let people who want to see the elections fail lure
you. An aborted general election will be a loss to PPP," he said.

PPP has set its sights on gaining a minimum 22.5 percent of
votes in the coming polls, equal to its result in the last
elections in 1997.

"We will seek votes from members of some 70 parties which have
been declared ineligible to contest the polls," said Hamzah, who
is also the Minister of Investment. Only 48 of the 105 parties
registered with the official verification team qualify for the
first elections since the fall of former president Soeharto in
May last year.

In Semarang, Golkar's Central Java office named party chairman
Akbar Tandjung its first choice for presidency.

President B.J. Habibie was put in the third place behind
Yogyakarta Sultan Hamengkubuwono X. Next were Minister of Defense
and Security/Armed Forces Commander Gen. Wiranto and Minister of
Justice Muladi.

The deputy secretary of the Golkar office, Sutoyo Abadi, told
Antara on Thursday that the five candidates were selected in a
vote during a plenary executive meeting on Feb. 25.

He said that of the 51 eligible voters, 14 were in favor of
Akbar, who defeated the Yogyakarta sultan by four votes. The
other nominees shared 13 votes among them. The remaining 14
voters abstained, opting to leave the decision to the senior
executives, or supported any candidates but Habibie or otherwise
just gave criteria for ideal candidates.

According to Sutoyo, those who preferred Akbar said it was
logical for a party to nominate its own chairman for the
presidency, while those who rejected Habibie said he was too
West-oriented.

Meanwhile, deputy chairman of the Central Java office of the
National Mandate Party (PAN), Alvin Lie, suspected that local
civil servants had breached the new ruling which bans them from
favoring a certain political party.

"We found a number of subdistrict heads in the eastern part of
Semarang invited residents to their offices and gave them
positions in Golkar branches set up in their respective
jurisdictions," Alvin told a seminar on the role of the Armed
Forces and a neutral bureaucracy in the 1999 elections.

Alvin said it was feared that the same practice occurred in
other cities.

"The possibility is there, but I dare not to reveal my
suspicions because of the lack of proof," he said.

Among those attending the seminar were Governor Mardiyanto and
Central Java military commander Maj. Gen. Bibit Waluyo.

In response to Alvin's complaint, Mardiyanto said he would
take stern measures against guilty subdistrict heads, but he
demanded evidence.

In Jakarta, a member of the National Commission on Human
Rights, Maj. Gen. (ret) Samsuddin, announced that he had joined
the Indonesian Nationalist Party (PNI) Marhaenist Front led by
Probosutedjo, a step-brother of former president Soeharto.

Samsuddin formerly was registered as a deputy chairman of PAN
and had been approached by the Justice Party (PK).

"PAN appointed me an executive without my consent. That party
and the Justice Party do not suit me," he said, as quoted by
Antara. (43/har/amd)