Police say poll violations down from 1997

JAKARTA (JP): National Police chief Gen. Roesmanhadi praised Monday's polls as peaceful and smooth which was better, in terms of the number of violations and casualties, than the 1997 elections under Soeharto's New Order regime.

Roesmanhadi told a news conference here on Thursday there were 5,618 cases of violations of election rules during Monday's polls, contested by 48 parties, while there were 9,087 violations when only three parties took part in 1997.

Traffic violations during the 1999 campaigning and voting numbered 21,238 cases compared to 37,574 cases in 1997. In addition, 46 people died in election-related activities in 1999 compared to 327 in 1997.

There were 2,749 cases of vandalism of parties' property now compared to 11,357 cases in 1997. In addition, there were 13 cases of vandalism of public property now compared to 727 cases in 1997.

"The 1999 poll was better than the one in 1997," Roesmanhadi told Antara.

Separately, non-governmental poll observers announced here on Thursday their own lists of election rules violations.

Muhammad Anung of the Indonesian Forum for Environment (Walhi) said on Thursday that across 60 regencies in Indonesia, the organization recorded violations ranging from the tampering of ballot boxes to shortages of ballot cards.

He did not name the number of polling places observed.

He cited the case in Muer village of Ropang subdistrict, Sumbawa Island in West Nusa Tenggara, where head of the subdistrict polling committee (PPS) was caught red-handed opening ballot boxes in the absence of election observers and witnesses.

"When asked what he was doing, the PPS head simply said that he was looking for official stamps which had fallen inside," Muhammad said in a press conference at the Aryaduta hotel, Central Jakarta.

"Eye-witnesses saw the ballot cards ripped out of the official envelopes ... seals were opened by this man. Cards were laying around in the boxes."

He added that even though residents agreed on casting votes again because of the violation, the Mayoralty Elections Committee (PPD II) of the area ignored the matter.

Among violations concerning ballot cards was one which involved the usage of extras obtained from the residence of the Asera district head of Sulawesi Tenggara, rather than from the District Polling Committee (PPK) office, Anung said.

At the same press conference, members of the Muslim Students Association (HMI) claimed that violations were also detected by 15,000 HMI poll watchers at 15,000 polling places across 26 provinces.

HMI head Kholiq Muhammad stated the following:

Many voters were not told by polling place officers to dip any fingers in ink, in the subdistricts of Pahandut, Langkai and Palangka, Pahandut district, Central Kalimantan.

In the Loa Ipuh subdistrict of Tenggarong, people were seen entering together into one polling booth, while members of the Mangkurawang PPS office visited local residents to cast ballots at home.

Also in Mangkurawang, Kholiq said, members of the Republican Party were caught distributing sports equipment to local residents and campaigning party programs a day before the poll.

In the Sei Payung subdistrict, PPS members were seen entering polling booths with voters, while in Loa Kulu Kota and Tapak Lambur subdistricts, several ballot cards, already punched, were received by polling place officers wrapped in newspaper.

In Irian Jaya, head of the Yapen Waropen office of the Election Supervisory Committee (Panwaslak) P. Saragih said on Thursday that 200 Aitiri villagers from Angkasera district were not able to vote in Monday's elections due to a lack of ballot papers.

Saragih explained the people were not registered to cast votes and came to the polling places on election day.

"The 200 came with ID-cards. They were all sent home," Saragih was reported by local media as saying.

A member of the Institute of Human Rights Studies and Advocacies in Irian Jaya also noted that in the Rapan Marey village, Waropen Atas district, at least 14 ballot cards were already punched before the June 7 poll.

"A similar incident also happened in the Awaso village, Waropen Bawah district," said a member of the watchdog, who told The Jakarta Post on condition of anonymity.

In Jayapura, the Indonesian Foundation to Strengthen People's Participation and Initiatives (Yappika), an Irian Jaya non- governmental organization, stated that 7,305 invalid ballot papers were found.

Yappika based its reports on the findings of 300 volunteers across 162 of the 164 polling places in Jayapura. (ylt/34/39)