Polls may rival cheating of the past: Observer

Polls may rival cheating of the past: Observer

JAKARTA (JP): This year's general election will greatly
resemble those in the past in terms of cheating attributable to
political groups defending the status quo, an observer predicts.

And to make things worse, there are lots of technical
shortcomings ranging from the government's make-shift
preparations for the elections to the limited monitoring by
independent watchdogs, which all open up opportunities for
cheats.

"I'm afraid there will be no fair play in the elections. The
situation now is no different from that under the New Order,"
noted lawyer Todung Mulya Lubis told The Jakarta Post on
Wednesday.

Todung coordinates the University Network for Free and Fair
Elections (Unfrel), one of the three biggest local election
monitoring groups along with the Independent Commission for
Election Monitoring (KIPP) and the University Forum.

Todung said there had been obvious unfairness occurring in the
public eye but beyond the reach of the law even before the race
began.

"There have been reports about village bureaucrats who turn
away certain people applying for identity cards, claiming there
is a shortage of application forms," Todung said.

Scheduled for June 7, the elections are restricted to
Indonesians aged 17 or above. They must show ID cards when they
register themselves between March 18 and April 17 for the polls.
Some provincial administrations, including West Java and North
Sumatra, have pledged themselves to provide a one-day service for
ID card applicants and exempt them from fees.

Todung said the starkest evidence of unfairness was in the
absence of sanctions in the newly passed Elections Law for
Cabinet ministers who campaign for Golkar while on official
tours.

"The issue was overlooked when everybody demanded a ban on
civil servants holding executive posts in political parties," he
said, recalling deliberation of the election bill in the House of
Representatives.

"Cabinet ministers are not civil servants, so they can argue
they do no wrong before the law with their campaigning
activities," Todung added.

Minister of Tourism, Art and Culture Marzuki Usman was the
latest to come under fire when he reportedly attended a Golkar
rally during his official visit to Jambi on Tuesday. He contested
the allegations on Wednesday, saying he had behaved like the
United States President Bill Clinton, who drops by to meet
Democratic constituents while on trips.

Todung also said there was a possibility of excessive use of
money by Golkar to win the elections, but it could not be
regarded as an offense because the present election law limits
only financial aid to be given to a political party.

Golkar, winner of the past six elections, has at least Rp 17
billion (US$1.9 million) it amassed during the New Order, making
it financially the strongest party.

Despite the worries about the potential for blatant cheating,
Todung admitted that the poll watchdogs would have little effect
on the validity of the elections.

"Unlike their counterparts in the Philippines, poll watchdogs
here play a peripheral role in the elections. Not only because
they cannot act as witnesses, but because they also have no right
to protest against violations," Todung said.

Only poll contestants have the right to protest, but their
complaints about the proceedings of the elections and reports of
violations discovered by the official election monitoring body
will not annul the outcome of the polls, according to the law.

The law also says that the 53-strong Elections Committee (KPU)
needs only two-thirds of signatories to endorse the results.

Todung said that with Unfrel expecting to recruit 150,000
volunteers and hundreds of thousands more from the KIPP and the
University Forum, the independent monitoring groups would be able
to watch over most of some 270,000 polling booths nationwide.

"We just hope that the Elections Committee will allow us to
keep a copy of the balloting report from each polling booth,"
Todung said. Once established, the KPU will draw up a code of
conduct to cover those involved in the elections.

Todung said the United Nations Development Program had pledged
$15 million in aid to help local poll watchdogs undertake their
jobs. More assistance is expected from USAID, which has yet to
detail the amount.

"We may need more funds, because we have to provide our posts
nationwide with computers," he said. The UNDP has agreed to
provide each post with a computer, far below Todung's estimate of
nine.

Another headache for the poll watchdogs is the fact that they
are pressed for time to make their volunteers ready for their
monitoring jobs.

"We are preoccupied with organizational matters, while we
should have started training our volunteers," he said.

When asked about Golkar retaining its supremacy given the many
loopholes standing between the reform agenda and free and just
elections, Todung was silent for a while.

"Golkar has a great chance of winning again, but we at least
hope for more democratic general elections to come in the next
five years," he said. (amd)