PPP doubts fair election next month
PPP doubts fair election next month
JAKARTA (JP): The United Development Party (PPP) is unsure if
the government will keep its promise to act as an impartial
"referee" in next month's election, its top official said
yesterday.
PPP secretary-general Tosari Widjaya said in an interview with
The Jakarta Post that there was no indication that this year's
election would be better than the last in 1992.
Tosari said the various government regulations derived from
the much criticized 1985 election law, "fail to accommodate
people's political aspirations".
Tosari said the party has called for the amendment of the law
since early 1996, but efforts have not been successful and they
are still struggling to survive with the existing rules.
"We have been consolidating since 1995 to strengthen our
organization and leadership at all levels," Tosari said.
The Moslem-based PPP will contest for 425 seats in the House
of Representatives against the dominant Golkar and the minority
Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI).
The three sanctioned parties are scheduled to start
campaigning Sunday.
Under Indonesian law, the general election is organized by the
government, which backs Golkar.
Tosari said the government has been unsympathetic to the PPP
from the early stages of the election.
He said the party had cried foul last year when local
authorities in Java denied some Islamic boarding school students
the right to register in the upcoming election.
"They did it because they knew we had been successful in
winning the teachers' sympathy," Tosari said. He said students in
Magelang, Central Java had been told to return to their hometown
in Sumatra to register for the election.
"It was a blatant violation of the law... Every Indonesian
citizen 17 years-old and above is eligible to vote," he said.
Tosari said the government has meddled in the party's internal
affairs by electing chairmen of the PPP's branches in several
regencies nationwide.
"The case in Bojonegoro in East Java for instance is a case in
point in which the regent insisted on recognizing a PPP branch
chairman who had been dismissed by the party," he said.
"Isn't it strictly internal party affairs?" he asked.
Tosari listed other government policies that, according to
him, were "made to strain" other political parties other than
the dominant Golkar. He said one example was the military's
screening of the party's legislative candidates.
"Does it make any sense to you that a Kyai (religious teacher)
who has been a member of the local legislative council for a
great many years failed the screening?" he asked.
The screening aims to ensure that no legislative candidates
from any group has a past link with the banned Indonesian
Communist Party (PKI), which was blamed for the 1965 coup
attempt.
Tosari said local government officials had meddled in the
listing of PPP legislative candidates.
He added that many regencies have different policies on how
the electioneering should be implemented.
The government allows the replacement of campaigners if they
are unable to turn up for some reason, but the policy does not
apply in the regencies.
According to the rule, a campaigner could be replaced provided
that the party inform the local authorities.
"However, things are not that easy in the regencies. They have
their own interpretation of the rule. For example, a regency
requires notification of three days ahead of schedule and others
could be six days," he said.
Tosari also criticized a decree issued by the Ministry of Home
Affairs which requires regents to determine a place to hold
campaigns for the three political groups.
"Finding a place to stage one's campaign should be decided by
the party itself, why all the regulation?" he asked. "If they
won't let us campaign just say so, and we won't have to fuss
anymore."
Tosari said the government has one month to prove to the world
that it can organize a quality general election by
remaining neutral in election activities and assuring people have
the freedom to vote. (aan)