Police may not participate in election: Feisal

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)