Presidential candidates make unrealistic promises: NGO

Presidential candidates make unrealistic promises: NGO

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta

Non-governmental organization The Institute for Democracy Studies
(LKaDe) criticized on Tuesday presidential and vice presidential
candidates for the unrealistic promises they have made during
nearly three weeks of public campaigning.

To make matters worse, LKaDe said all candidates forgot to
promote primary issues, such as protection of children and women
against illegal trafficking, empowerment of disabled people, the
elimination of discrimination against people of Chinese descent
and against other minority groups, the investigation of
unresolved cases involving human rights abuses and the
introduction of a clear concept on internal military reform.

"As to responding to public complaints at high fees for
education, presidential candidate Hamzah Haz has promised to free
parents from paying tuition fees for their children, while
another candidate, Amien Rais, has promised a policy on low-cost
education.

"Their promises are unrealistic because the government has
allocated a huge budget of no less than Rp 93 trillion (US$99
billion) to the education sector -- yet it cannot accommodate
free tuition and low-cost education programs," LKaDe chairman
Sukowaluyo Mintorahardjo told a media conference.

Hamzah and Amien are respectively the presidential candidates
from the United Development Party (PPP) and National Mandate
Party (PAN).

According to Sukowaluyo, incumbent president Megawati
Soekarnoputri, who is the candidate from the Indonesian
Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), has made "more realistic
pledges in her campaign by offering to raise the number of
students who receive scholarships".

Sukowaluyo, who was accompanied by legislator Didiek
Supriyanto -- both of them from the PDI-P -- also highlighted
responses from Gen. (ret) Wiranto, the Golkar Party candidate,
and Gen. (ret) Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono from the Democratic
Party, with regard to the eradication of corruption.

"Both candidates have promised to impose the death sentence on
corruptors but I don't think they could do that," Sukowaluyo
said, adding "their statements imply interference in the
country's legal system".

He was referring to Anticorruption Law No. 39/1999, which
stipulates a maximum 20 years in jail for convicted corruptors;
the death sentence could only be enforced under special
circumstances, such as an emergency situation.

LKaDe was established by PDI-P members critical of Megawati.
It monitored the campaigns of all the presidential candidates
from June 1 to June 20.

Sukowaluyo also criticized the candidates' economic platforms
as most claim to be able to create more job opportunities for
hundreds of thousands of jobless people, brushing aside the
reality that the government is not in a position to create such
opportunities.

"The creation of job opportunities belongs to the private
sector, while the government is responsible for creating a
positive situation by streamlining the arduous bureaucracy and
abolishing conflicting regulations.

"Isn't it strange that our would-be administrators promise to
employ hundreds of thousands of jobless people, while in fact the
only job opportunities that they can create are for civil
servants or servicemen?" Sukowaluyo asked.