Regional election committees formed

Regional election committees formed

JAKARTA (JP): The chairman of the National Committee for General Elections Moch. Yogie S.M. yesterday inducted the governors of Indonesia's 27 provinces as chairs of the regional committees for the 1997 general elections.

Yogie also inaugurated the regional election monitoring committees and the election committee for general elections for Indonesians overseas. The last committee is chaired by Rahardjo Djojonegoro.

Yogie, who is also Minister of Home Affairs, told the governors to induct their own officials by Monday.

Yogie's instruction is significant for East Java Governor Basofi Soedirman, because he will have to exclude representatives from the provincial branch of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) due to the ongoing leadership conflict there.

"The seats for PDI representatives will be left vacant," Basofi was quoted by Antara as saying. "However, I will consult (other) officials on which PDI representatives to be included on the committee."

Basofi also said he hoped there will be solutions to the problem before Monday. However, he hinted that he might have to choose one camp over the other in the conflict.

"I will refer to the results of my meeting with the PDI branches last month," he said.

Two PDI activists, Latief Pudjosakti and Soetjipto, both claim to be the rightful branch chairman. Latief was reportedly supported by the provincial administration, while Soetjipto had the backing of the PDI executive board led by Megawati Soekarnoputri.

Basofi had attempted to bring the two activists to a reconciliation in a meeting, but Soetjipto balked at the idea.

Yesterday, Basofi indirectly confirmed that he sent the forms for PDI representatives in the general election committees to Latief only. When asked by reporters why he did not send the forms to Soetjipto, he laughed. "Soetjipto who?" he said.

In Surabaya, Soetjipto told The Jakarta Post that his camp had in fact submitted to four names to Basofi last month to represent the PDI branch on the committee. "I didn't want to be thought of as a passive person," he said.

Latief told the Post he has not submitted any names to the governor.

Soetjipto expressed regrets over the situation. If Basofi decided to leave the PDI seats in the committee empty, "it would mean a setback in the political development here," he said.

He said the inclusion of PDI representatives on the regional committee is not only a duty, but also a right for all political contestants. (swe/15)