Poll watchdog to sue Ujungpandang police

UJUNGPANDANG (JP): An independent poll watchdog has said it plans to sue Ujungpandang police for banning a training program for its election observers here Monday.

Member of the South Sulawesi Independent Election Monitoring Committee (KIPP) presidium, Rudiyanto Asapa, said Wednesday the committee was taking legal action at the Ujungpandang Administrative Court to examine whether a training program required police permission or just a notification.

"The rule says that permission is needed only in holding a festivity, while training or other scientific activities just require notification," he said.

Monday's training program had been going for three hours when security officers from the Ujungpandang city police told the organizers to stop the meeting.

Rudiyanto said the committee told the police that they had informed the authorities about the training program before it began and that permission was not needed for such an activity.

However, the security officers persisted on their conviction saying that they were ordered to disperse the meeting.

Another KIPP activist, A Muis, said the banning was unreasonable.

"To observe the election is also the rights of people and it is not against the law," he said.

The government should be aware that the KIPP aims to help make the election more qualified.

The committee executive secretary, Farid R. Faqih, said the training was the second held outside Java. The first was held in Pematangsiantar, North Sumatra.

He added that up till now the monitoring committee had made informal efforts to hold dialog with the government and that they never urged people to boycott the election.

"It depends on them whether they will vote or not," he said. (37/05)