PPP, PDI not impressed with poll reforms
PPP, PDI not impressed with poll reforms
JAKARTA (JP): The United Development Party (PPP) and the
Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) say they are not impressed by
the government's gesture to strengthen monitoring of the voting
and ballot counting at the next general election in 1997.
B.N. Marbun of the PDI and Jusuf Syakir of the PPP said the
new presidential decree on electoral rules are not be adequate to
redress flaws in the implementation of general elections.
Political observer Ridwan Saidi called the gesture as quick
fixes which failed to touch the substance of the matters.
The dominant political group Golkar however hailed the move as
another step to improve democracy in the country.
Golkar chairman Harmoko and legislator Oka Mahendra said the
decree as proof of the government's commitment to bring
democratization and improve the quality of general elections.
"Golkar has for so long wanted an improvement in the quality
of the elections," Harmoko told reporters yesterday. "This decree
will improve the elections' quality, just the way Golkar and the
political parties want."
PPP and PDI have been campaigning for a reform of the
electoral system which they say virtually ensures victory for
Golkar. One of their chief complaint is over restriction that
they cannot set up offices at village level and their activities
are virtually confined to regency towns. Golkar however can reach
the mass rural bases because the village heads usually are
members of the ruling political group.
President Soeharto on April signed the decree revising a
number of procedures in the general elections. The decree gives
political parties greater roles as it enables them to appoint
their members to witness vote casting and ballot counting.
One new rule allows a party to appoint its representatives
from other districts if it could not find anyone to represent it
in the said district.
This has been a common problem for PPP and PDI, particularly
in remote areas. In the past, if the parties could not send their
representatives, the election committee would appoint them for
the parties, raising suspicions about the objectivity.
Another regulation says that the election committees would be
formed at village levels instead of regency level as in the past.
Jusuf, Marbun and Ridwan, see the changes as only grazing at
the surface. Interviewed separately, the three expressed their
belief that what counts more is that the Golkar-dominated
bureaucracy ensures fair play in every step of the way.
"The decree doesn't introduce any significant change," Jusuf
said. "The only difference is that the witnesses for vote casting
and ballot counting can now be appointed from a nearby sub-
district, that's all".
"I'm disappointed with this decree, because the fact is that
our demands are still largely ignored," he said.
"We have been making the same demands for the last 10 years,
it's like we're playing a scratch record," Jusuf said, adding
that PPP wanted the bureaucracy to also cut red-tape which have
hampered the participation of PPP and PDI activists in monitoring
of general elections.
The existing regulations, for instance, stipulate that an
appointee from PPP or PDI have to obtain the approval of the
regent in a certain constituency before they can become witness
of vote casting and ballot counting.
B.N. Marbun said that political parties should be included in
every step of the general election process.
Only with this total involvement can activists of PDI and PPP
better monitor the general elections, and prevent violations, he
told The Jakarta Post and Kompas.
"In practice, our witnesses in ballot counting were often
ignored even when they saw violations and protested," he said.
Marbun said manipulations in previous elections occurred from
the first step of voters' registration to the last step, namely
the ballot counting and reporting.
"I think we even need to appoint people to monitor the
computers used for counting the ballots, because we have seen how
votes for PDI, for instance, were manipulated so that they
decreased," he said.
Oka Mahendra believed the decree will help reduce violations
and ensure that a more democratic election process occur.
"Golkar doesn't see any problem with this decree," he told the
Post. "We want to see continuous improvement in general
elections, so that we can be closer to our dreams of democracy."
"Golkar always wishes to win general elections fairly," he
said. (swe/pwn)