Presidential promise of fair election
Presidential promise of fair election
SEMARANG (JP): President Soeharto has given his much-awaited
guarantee to dissatisfied critics that the 1997 general election
will proceed smoothly and fairly, an analyst said.
Political scientist Maschuri Maschab said that Soeharto's
recent appeal to the public to entrust the task of organizing the
election to official agencies served as both "a guarantee to the
critical" and a warning to the election's organizers.
"The critical are those who have been dissatisfied with the
way the previous general elections were held," he told The
Jakarta Post yesterday.
"Through his statement, the President also warned the
organizers. This group should really introspect and obey what the
President has ordered," said the lecturer at Gadjah Mada
University in Yogyakarta.
Another political scientist at Gadjah Mada, Rewihalo, agreed
with his colleague. He said Soeharto's statement was a reminder
to election organizers to take care not to do anything which
might make people suspicious of their work.
In his commemoration speech for National Awakening Day last
Monday, Soeharto called on the nation to strive to make the
election next year better than previous polls in Indonesia.
"We want the 1997 General Election to proceed smoothly. We
must all strive to make each election better than the previous
ones," he said.
While acknowledging there were shortcomings in previous
elections, he said they should not obscure the achievements made.
"We must not let them undermine our self-confidence in that we
can organize a fair and honest election. Let's rid ourselves of
any suspicion," he said.
Political observer Solly Lubis at the North Sumatra University
in Medan said that people's suspicion of the government will dim
if the coming general election meets a number of criteria.
"Philosophically, a good poll is one which is in accordance
with the state ideology Pancasila, particularly its tenets of
social justice and deliberation in order to reach consensus,"
Lubis said.
"The poll should also meet the stipulations outlined in the
Constitution and the Broad Guidelines of State Policies," he
said.
The government is under increasing pressure to ensure the 1997
poll is fair and genuine, and that cheating, which has marred
past elections, is punished severely.
The United Development Party and the Indonesian Democratic
Party, the two minority groups contesting the election against
Golkar, have called for more guarantees of fairness from the
government. (har/swe)