Polls likely to be called off in 10% of regencies: KIPP
JAKARTA (JP): Elections are unlikely to take place in 10 percent of the country's 243 regencies due to their vulnerability to unrest, a poll monitor predicted on Saturday.
Mulyana W. Kusumah, secretary-general of the Independent Election Monitoring Committee (KIPP), said there was not a strong likelihood of polls being held in areas such as Aceh, Maluku, West Kalimantan and Irian Jaya.
"Unrest that has rocked various parts of the country has caused damage to infrastructure, and based on our observations a disturbance tends to spill over," Mulyana said after inaugurating KIPP branches in Greater Jakarta.
Other observers have also raised similar concerns.
Mulyana said a delayed poll in unrest-ridden regencies would be preferable if technical problems remained unsettled.
Law No.3/1999 on General Elections says delayed polls may take place within a maximum of 30 days after balloting day.
In such areas, Mulyana said, "Technically, it would difficult to gather voters... as many residents have probably fled or will even refuse to vote for political reasons".
This year's elections are scheduled for June 7, with 140 million eligible voters.
Apart from sporadic unrest in Maluku, Lhoksemauwe in Aceh, Jayapura in Irian Jaya and Sambas in West Kalimantan, cries for independence have been raised in East Timor, Aceh and other areas.
"Fears and traumatic experiences may lead people in the riot- torn areas to refrain from voting. They are concentrating on surviving," Mulyana said. Thousands of displaced residents in provinces where recent carnage has taken place have taken sanctuary in refugee centers.
The General Elections Law also allows a vote rerun in cases where vote-rigging or other violations have been found.
Established in March 1996, KIPP was the first poll monitoring body in Indonesia. Together with the University Network for Free and Fair Elections (Unfrel) and the Rectors Forum, KIPP will monitor the country's multiparty election process. Several other monitoring bodies have also been set up.
Currently KIPP claims to have 60,000 volunteers and hopes to reach a set target of 130,000 to oversee 128 regencies.
Mulyana said KIPP had started monitoring since the early stages of the election process.
"We observed, among other things, the delays in election stages caused by spats between the General Elections Commission and parties contesting the polls," he said.
KIPP is to hold a two-day trainers' course on March 30 and March 31 to be attended by representatives of its nationwide branches.
In Semarang, General Elections Committee (PPI) member I.M. Sunarka regretted the establishment of regional electoral committees in regencies which did not involve the committee.
"Such regional elections committees are not legitimate and thus selection for their membership must be repeated," Sunarka said while installing Central Java's electoral committee on Saturday.
Also in Semarang, visiting leader of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) Megawati Soekarnoputri met with Semarang Bishop Ignatius Suharyo to request his help in watching over her party's supporters.
Suharyo, as quoted by Antara news agency, said the Semarang diocese would stay neutral to all parties.
"PDI Perjuangan is not the only political party to ask the church to watch over their supporters. We have received the same request from PAN and PKB," Suharyo said.
PAN is the National Mandate Party led by popular scholar Amien Rais, while PKB is the National Awakening Party founded by Muslim leader Abdurrahman Wahid.
Megawati was in Semarang to officiate the party's command posts in the province. Thousands of supporters flooded the city streets to welcome her, Antara reported.
In Magelang, Megawati said in front of some 30,000 supporters that people were easily torn apart and divided, "because of deep polarizing feelings" attached to respective ethnic groups. She urged people to remain as one, "as we cannot let the violence go on in various areas such as in Ambon or Sambas." (edt/aan/har)