PPP central board okays election campaign boycott

JAKARTA (JP): The Central Executive Board of the United Development Party (PPP) has given the go-ahead for a plan by some of its regional branches to boycott the general election campaign, which starts next month.

PPP Secretary-General Tosari Wijaya told Antara that if the branches felt that they could not organize the campaigns because of the strict regulations, then they did not have to.

"In this upcoming election campaign, our strength lies in the hands of the regional branches. If they cannot hold them, then they don't have to have the campaigns," he said.

"Of course, PPP will lose out if it does not hold the campaigns because it won't be able to convey its political messages to the electorate.

"But if we cannot hold the campaigns, we can't force ourselves. After all, there is no regulation compelling the parties to hold campaigns," he said.

Tosari agreed with the branch leaders that the PPP leadership finds the campaign rules too strict and that some branches are finding it hard to comply.

The call to boycott the election campaign, which will be held between April 27 and May 23, came last week from the Surakarta branch's head, Mudrick Setiawan Sangidu.

Sangidu said six other branches in Central Java -- Boyolali, Klaten, Wonogiri, Sragen, Sukoharjo and Karanganyar -- have joined in the plan. In a joint statement, the branch leaders said the campaign rules hurt PPP, hamper democracy and do not guarantee a fair election.

The government, which organizes the election, has issued a series of regulations for the campaign designed to prevent the likelihood of clashes between supporters of the various parties.

The rules encourage parties to use the state-owned television station TVRI to convey their political messages and place less emphasis on massive rallies.

Tosari said the requirement that all vehicles to be used to transport supporters to political gatherings must first be registered with the local police is difficult to meet.

Based on past election campaigns, PPP will have difficulties renting the vehicles in the first place, he said. "When we find someone willing to rent them out, they'd jack up the price."

PPP will not force itself to use all the allotted campaign time, he said.

The campaign regulations have introduced a zoning system to prevent the likelihood clashes between supporters of the different parties. This means each contestant will be given nine days to campaign in any given district.

PPP is contesting the May 29 election against Golkar and the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI).

Both PPP and PDI leaderships have criticized the campaign regulations as being designed to ensure the maximum victory for Golkar. (emb)