Poll watchdog to sue Ujungpandang police

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)