Police may not participate in election: Feisal
JAKARTA (JP): Police will not participate in the June 7 polls as legally they remain members of the Armed Forces (ABRI), despite their formal separation last week, Coordinating Minister for Political Affairs and Security Feisal Tanjung said on Wednesday.
"The problem is that the law stipulating that police are part of ABRI has yet to be revoked," Feisal said before a Cabinet meeting on economic affairs.
Minister of Defense and Security/Armed Forces Commander Gen. Wiranto announced on April 1 a transition period for the separation of the National Police from ABRI.
The police are now under the command of his ministry.
Law No. 28/1997 on the National Police stipulates that police are part of the Armed Forces which includes the Army, Navy and Air Forces.
"In the future, police status may be changed to that of civil servants... so that they would have the right to vote," Feisal said.
He did not disclose whether police would retain their claim to the 38 seats allotted for ABRI members at the House of Representatives.
Feisal said President B.J. Habibie had yet to issue an instruction on the preparation of a draft bill to revoke the 1997 law on the police.
Currently there are 200,000 police officers nationwide.
Opposition to military representation in lawmaking bodies was voiced on Wednesday by activists, who said that an end to ABRI's dual function doctrine was one condition of free and fair elections.
Hunger strike
Members of the Democratic People's Party (PRD), one of the 48 parties contesting the polls, announced on Wednesday the beginning of a hunger strike in a bid to remind the public about conditions of free and fair polls.
PRD chairman Budiman Sudjatmiko said in a statement sent from Cipinang jail in East Jakarta there should be freedom for parties to have their own ideologies and that there should not be any money politics.
"Vote buying or bribing results in the faking of people's sovereignty," the statement signed by Budiman and his secretary general Petrus Hariyanto said.
"It means the government established (after the poll) would be a manipulative administration."
The statement did not say when the fast would end.
Separately, students demonstrating on Wednesday outside the General Elections Commission (KPU) office said political developments, including the continued allotment of unelected legislature seats for ABRI, showed that "reform was dead" and declared they intended to abstain from voting in the polls.
The commission is scheduled to decide on Friday the remaining election regulations such as legislatures' seat allocation and KPU budgeting, chairman Rudini said on Wednesday, so KPU members could start to inspect the preparations of regional elections committees.
However, the commission has yet to obtain the latest population figures to determine the allocation of legislature seats.
Minister of Home Affairs Syarwan Hamid said after registering himself as a voter near his South Jakarta residence that his office was still preparing the data.
The commission has set a decree on legislature nomination at the center, provincial and regency levels. Candidates must be registered with the national level to regional level elections committees from April 5 to April 27. From April 6 to May 4 the national, provincial and regional elections committees must investigate whether nominees meet requirements stipulated in the elections law.
On May 8 to May 18 the temporary list of legislature nominees will be announced, and the fixed list will be announced from May 19 to May 26.
Syarwan indicated the government might provide additional funds for parties other than the stipulated Rp 150 million per party as in previous years. (edt/prb/anr)