PPP warns of unfair election

JAKARTA (JP): The United Development Party (PPP) warned yesterday that an unfair general election next May could easily trigger riots, given the public's fast-flaring temper of late.

Chairman Ismail Hasan Metareum said in an address at the PPP's 24th anniversary celebration at the Jakarta Fair Ground that the public had become more sensitive to malfeasance, arrogance, hypocrisy and power abuse.

"We urge central and regional authorities and security officers to take a lesson from this recent development within society, instead of inciting public resentment by violating fair play at the general election," Ismail said.

Three riots had exploded in the last three months, two of them in the last two weeks, showing how easily the nation fell prey to either ethnic or religious tension, he said. The most recent ruckus in the Sanggau Ledo subdistrict of West Kalimantan killed five, injured nine and forced thousands of people to seek refuge.

At least 10,000 yelling, flag-waving cadres, mostly young men, attended the PPP's anniversary. Dressed in the party's color of green, they formed convoys of trucks and motorcycles on their way to and from the celebration in what could be their last motorcade because the government recently issued decrees banning rallies during the one-month campaign period before the election.

An estimated 120 million people across the archipelago are expected to cast ballots on May 29 in the seventh general election since the republic was founded in 1945. An election has been held every five years since the New Order government came to power in ________.

Minister of Home Affairs Moch. Yogie SM, the secretary-general of the ruling Golkar, Ari Mardjono, and the Indonesian Democratic Party's chairman, Soerjadi, attended yesterday's celebration.

Bureaucracy

Ismail said fair and just elections had been harmed by the bureaucracy's dual functions.

"A better-quality general election faces a lot of hurdles if discriminative treatment of the three contestants, which share the Pancasila state ideology, remain," Ismail said.

He said one of the contesting groups was immature because it fully relied on the bureaucracy to win elections. "This contradicts the government's continuous call for the self- reliance of each contestant," Ismail said.

Golkar has one a majority of votes in the last five elections and is gunning for another sweeping victory in May. It aims to win 70 percent of votes, 2 percent higher than in 1992. There are 425 seats at the House of Representatives up for grabs in May.

The Moslem-oriented party, a 1973 fusion of four Islamic parties, has always played second fiddle to Golkar. It drew 15 percent of votes in 1992 for 64 seats in the House, down from 16 percent in 1987.

The election is drawing near, but Ismail still played down the issue of winning or losing. "We are fully ready for the election, but our main objectives are unity and fresh aspirations which reflect public interests," he said.

Minister of Home Affairs Yogie argued that the government always sought every avenue to improve the election.

"Both the government and the public have tried to live up to demands for a quality election, but we must be wise that efforts cannot be undertaken massively, drastically and all at once," Yogie said.

The last four elections have been marked by protests from Golkar's two rival parties over alleged voter intimidation and violations of the principles of direct, general and confidential elections.

Yogie said the government could only the change election laws to improve the quality of elections. "They (the rules) may not satisfy all the people, but if the regulations are implemented properly, at least the next election will be better than the previous ones," he said.

The government's 1985 electoral law replaced its 1969 electoral law. Operational regulations on general elections were reviewed last year.

"A quality election depends also on individual voter's motives in picking his or her choice. We have already agreed that everybody's right to choose is guaranteed by law," Yogie said. (amd)