Poll watchers note increasing intimidation

Poll watchers note increasing intimidation

JAKARTA (JP): A poll watch activist has predicted that
violence will intensify against poll monitors in the third round
of campaigning ahead of the June 7 elections.

Secretary-general of the Independent Election Monitoring
Committee (KIPP) Mulyana W. Kusumah said: "We have received
reports of violence toward KIPP volunteers as well as other poll
watchers such as Unfrel (the University Network for Free and Fair
Elections)."

He said KIPP had demanded the police investigate the reports
and said the poll watchdog may sue involved parties.

"It seems to me that poll watchers have become targets of
certain parties who want to foil a free and fair poll.

"With the election only few days away, those parties would do
just about anything to reach their goal ... Poll observers are
one of their main obstacles," he said after a media conference.

Mulyana reiterated that poll watch activities will continue as
scheduled. "We will not give up. But we want better security
guarantees from security forces and we will pursue legal action
toward every case of violation and pressure," he said.

According to a decree by the General Elections Commission,
poll monitors were entitled to legal protection.

Meanwhile, Unfrel revealed that the incident on Saturday in
which six of its volunteers were intimidated in Meulaboh, Aceh,
was committed by local security forces.

The six students were told to lie on the ground and were
stripped, Unfrel's written report said. Some of them were kicked
and beaten by security officers, and were eventually released
after the officers failed to find proof that the students were
linked to the Free Aceh Movement, the report said.

Weapons

Last week KIPP also urged that political parties ensure their
security forces are disarmed of sharp weapons.

Yogyakarta Police have said they would only conduct raids on
sharp weapons if all political parties would guarantee that their
supporters would not protest. Four poll watch networks here have
demanded that police act firmly with party supporters carrying
weapons, to prevent violence.

Abdurrazaq, head of the Yogyakarta Joint Forum of Poll
Monitors, said weapons were freely carried during campaigns,
mostly by supporters of large parties -- such as the National
Mandate Party (PAN), PDI Perjuangan, the United Development Party
(PPP) and the National Awakening Party (PKB).

In Dili, East Timor, the secretary of the Provincial Elections
Committee, Abdul Hakim, said on Monday that if reports of
intimidation to vote for a certain party were true, the polls in
the province would not be valid.

He was responding to reports that people were being pressured
by village heads to vote for Golkar. Abdul is also secretary of
the provincial chapter of the National Mandate Party (PAN). The
election committee was looking into the reports, he said.

The chairman of the Dili provincial Election Supervisory
Committee, L. Sormin, said firm action would be taken against any
party known to be involved in intimidating voters.

In Semarang, Golkar Party also complained of intimidation,
saying it made it difficult to hold campaigns as scheduled.

"Our cadres often receive threats that our convoys will be
attacked," Sutoyo Abadi, the party secretary, said.

Harassment of Golkar supporters has been reported from several
Central Java regencies.

KIPP also announced six cases of violence and intimidation
directed against its volunteers and one suspected murder of a
KIPP worker.

The cases took place between May 14 and May 24. The first
occurrence of violence was the stabbing of KIPP volunteer Andy
Satrya in Selayar regency, South Sulawesi.

Azis Silla, a volunteer in Takalar, South Sulawesi, was killed
when he was hit by a vehicle taking part in a street rally on May
24. Police are investigating the crash to determine whether there
are political motives behind the incident.

Among cases reported by KIPP was the harassment of volunteers
during a Golkar campaign in Simalungun, North Sumatra. "They were
pelted with stones because they were suspected of being spies and
practitioners of black magic although they repeatedly showed
people their identification cards," the head of KIPP's legal
division, Sirra Prayuna, said.

KIPP lodged a protest Monday at the Ministry of Defense and
Security against all forms of elections violence which had not
been effectively handled.

On May 20, two volunteers of the KIPP chapter in Pangkah
district, Tegal regency, Central Java, were monitoring PDI
Perjuangan street rallies when they were beaten by rally
participants. Both volunteers, Ainur Rofiq and Sudarmin,
sustained bruises all over their body, a KIPP press release said.

In Lamongan, East Java, the local KIPP office was attacked on
May 19 by unidentified people who threw stones at the office.

"Lamongan doesn't need a poll watchdog," an unidentified phone
caller said. KIPP said harassment in Lamongan was believed to be
linked to a statement the committee released regarding violations
by a political party there. (anr/44/33/edt/har)