Regents abuse election rules: C. Java panwaslu

Suherdjoko and Slamet Susanto, The Jakarta Post, Semarang/Yogyakarta

Eleven regents in Central Java have allegedly abused their powers and conducted preliminary "campaigns" for the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), which supported them in their regental elections.

The fact that some of them had concurrently assumed the top post of local party branches had contributed to the irregularities, said Nur Hidayat Sardini, chairman of the Central Java Election Supervisory Committee (Panwaslu).

"The data (on the irregularities) was based on reports from the regental Panwaslu," he said on Friday.

Regents accused of abusing their powers are those of Demak, Grobogan, Purbalingga, Kendal, Sukoharjo, Sragen, Cilacap, Banyumas, Brebes, Banjarnegara and Batang regencies.

The four regents who had concurrently assumed posts as heads of PDI Perjuangan branches, said Nur Hidayat, were the regents of Kendal, Brebes, Demak and Batang.

In Central Java, 22 of 35 mayors or regents won the elections with the backing of PDI Perjuangan.

Nur Hidayat gave a few examples of irregularities perpetrated by the regents: The Demak regent urged teachers to buy and wear red jackets at official functions, while the Grobogan regent toured the region in a car with a logo of a bull on the hood.

PDI Perjuangan's party logo features a black bull on a red background.

"We are collecting evidence on the alleged abuses of power and the early 'disguised' campaigns," he said, and once the evidence was solid, the Central Java Panwaslu would report to police.

Separately, Murdoko, head of the party's Central Java chapter, said he had instructed PDI Perjuangan's regents or mayors in the province to avoid using government facilities for the benefit of the party.

He had also ordered them not to conduct any early campaigns.

"They have misinterpreted what was meant by a 'disguised' campaign. What I meant ... was that they should issue and implement popular policies to raise the image of the party in the eyes of the public.

"In this way, local residents will understand that the cadres of PDI Perjuangan are able to lead," he said.

Separately in Yogyakarta, an election official said on Friday that 370 of 555 legislative candidates for the provincial council had failed to comply with the requirements as established by the Yogyakarta General Elections Commission (KPU). The qualifying candidates are to vie for 50 seats in the Yogyakarta provincial council in April's general elections.

"Most of them are still failing to include, for example, medical records, so that we have to reject their applications," said Suparman, head of Yogyakarta provincial KPU.

However, he said aspiring legislators still had 14 days until the deadline to complete their applications.

Meanwhile, in Yogyakarta municipality, three legislative candidates were disqualified for being underage.

Nasrullah, head of Yogyakarta municipal KPU, said the three were Purwanti, 19, Catur Cahyono, 18 -- both from the Indonesian Unity Party (PSI) -- and Renny Setyawati, 19, from the Freedom Party.

Under the General Elections Law, legislative candidates must be a minimum 21 years of age.