Preparations for poll watchdogs shift into high gears

Preparations for poll watchdogs shift into high gears

JAKARTA (JP): The rush to prepare independent observers of the
polls, slated to take place in barely five months, continues as
the country's two largest Muslim organizations cooperate to
prepare 123,600 volunteer poll observers.

In Ujungpandang, South Sulawesi, the Joint Forum of Election
Monitoring was set up on Friday and aims to recruit 20,000
volunteer poll observers. Earlier, the Indonesian Rectors Forum
launched in Bandung, West Java, preparations to recruit 450,000
university students and lecturers for the same purpose.

The new cooperation between Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah
organizations comprises 11 of their community and religious
bodies. Like other networks, activities include preparations for
voter education and training for volunteers.

The 11 organizations are under the coordination of Nahdlatul
Ulama's Institute for Human Resources Development Studies.

"We are nonparty oriented and independent. The volunteers will
be ready for deployment in all provinces, except East Timor due
to current political developments there," Helmy Ali Yafie told
The Jakarta Post on Friday. The volunteers will be ready to work
from the province level to the district level, he said.

"We have to move fast because of the tight schedule," Helmy
said.

On Friday, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP)
signed a memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs stating it would channel aid from at least 14 countries
for the purpose of poll monitoring. The aid is estimated to reach
US$10 million.

Earlier established networks such as the Independent Election
Monitoring Committee (KIPP) and the University Network for Free
and Fair Elections (Unfrel) are among recipients of the aid.

Nahdlatul Ulama's network will start its one month voter
education program on Wednesday through talk shows on television
and radio, discussions, information dissemination through the
media and through posters and flyers.

"We will spread the idea of a free and fair election up to the
subdistricts and villages," Helmy added.

In April, the network will start actual monitoring activities.
"We are open to any independent participants," he said.

Pressure

Fajrul Falaakh, an executive in charge of Nahdlatul Ulama's
human resources development, noted that the task of monitoring a
general election was relatively new here.

"None of the monitoring groups in this country will be really
ready to run their tasks smoothly," Fajrul, also a UNDP advisor,
said. He cited the hardest job of the network would be
determining whether voters were really free of pressure, apart
from counting ballots and verifying them.

"All this needs special standardization, both in rules and
systems. We have to set this with other monitoring groups," he
added.

In Ujungpandang last week, a monitoring network coordinator
under the Joint Forum said its 20,000 volunteers would not
adequately cover the ideal of two observers at each election post
in South Sulawesi's 21 regencies and two townships.

"But we hope they can be effective anyway," M. Darwis said.

Meanwhile, the "team of eleven" in charge of selecting poll
contestants will start working on Monday by composing directives
for 87 chapters in the new law on political parties and on
general elections.

The drafts of the directives will be submitted to the yet-to-
be-established National Elections Committee (KPU) on Feb. 28,
according to team member Mulyana W. Kusumah, who expressed
optimism that with good division of labor the task would be
carried out well.

The team does not have decision-making power, and the drafts
will only be submitted as recommendations, according to Mulyana.

The team of eleven comprises 11 respected scholars and
activists. Its main duties are to select and recommend to the KPU
political parties eligible to contest the June 7 poll.

The elections committee itself will be set up after
registration of political parties is completed on Feb. 21. A
total of 140 political parties have been registered at the
Ministry of Home Affairs, but in order to contest the poll they
have to register as corporate bodies at the Ministry of Justice.

They will be processed further by the team of eleven and,
finally, by the elections committee.

According to the law on general elections, enacted on Feb. 3,
the committee will consist of representatives of the political
parties and five government representatives. The two sides within
the committee will have "balanced" voting rights. (edt/27/01)