Regulation blocks public monitoring of election

Ahmad Junaidi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The City Council approved on Monday a regulation in the gubernatorial election that limits the public's participation in monitoring the election process, including the possibility of money politics.

Article 24 of the regulation states that the council may accept complaints against an elected governor from the public, but they should be filed through leaders of registered organizations within three days after the election.

The public's opportunity to report money politics has become even more limited as Article 27 states that the council will decide whether the complaint is valid if it is accompanied by written testimonies from more than one councillor.

The chairman of the Jakarta Residents Forum (Fakta), Azas Tigor Nainggolan, said the council was trying to stop any public involvement in the election, which is scheduled to take place in October.

"It's a strange regulation and has no legal basis. It seems like the council has been trying to block the people's participation since the beginning," Tigor said.

He said it would be difficult for many organizations, which were critical of the city administration and council, to file their complaints as many of them, including Fakta, were unregistered.

He said the public's limited participation during the election process would be an open invitation to possible corruption and collusion practices among councillors and candidates.

Separately, councillor M. Chudlory Syafei of the United Development Party (PPP) denied that the regulation would result in rampant cases of corruption and collusion.

"It is not just because of a (weak) regulation, in many cases, if we want to conduct corruption, it could happen," said Chudlory, who will be installed as the council's deputy chairman, replacing Djafar Badjeber, who joined the party's splinter group PPP Reformasi.

In a related issue, Indonesian Military (TNI)/Police faction deputy chairman Ibnu Sumantri announced that his faction would not nominate any candidates for the next gubernatorial election.

"It would not be considered neutral if we also nominated candidates for the governorship," Sumantri said after the council's plenary meeting.

He said a military or police officer could nominate himself or herself or be nominated by other factions, but he or she should get permission from the military or a police chief.

However, Sumantri said his faction would support a candidate, for example, the incumbent Governor Sutiyoso, if he had strong support from the public.

Sutiyoso earlier expressed his willingness to be reelected for a second five-year term if the public supported him. Besides gaining support from the TNI/Police faction, he reportedly received support from several councillors from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan).

As the largest faction with 30 seats on council, PDI Perjuangan reportedly nominated its city chapter chairman Tarmidi Suhardjo and its central board deputy chairman Roy BB Janis.

The current deputy governor for Social Welfare Affairs, Djailani, and City Secretary Fauzi Bowo will also run in the election, which will be determined by the council's 83 councillors.