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)