Rights abuse rife during campaign
SEMARANG (JP): The National Commission on Human Rights voiced its concern yesterday over the rife violation of basic rights during the first 13 days of the election campaign.
Commission member Bambang W. Suharto said the unruly street rallies organized by the United Development Party (PPP), Golkar and Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) had spread terror throughout communities.
"Campaigners have banged on motorists' cars, honked their horns, revved their motorcycle engines and shouted at pedestrians. All that has scared people," he said in Semarang.
Traffic laws most commonly breached included riding motorcycles without wearing helmets and carrying more passengers than officially allowed, he said.
The campaign started on April 27 and ends on May 23. Street rallies are formally banned but party leaders admitted they could not control people on the streets.
Police in Jakarta and other major cities have tried to discipline campaigners seen blatantly violating traffic laws but their measures have not been effective.
Bambang said it was high time the authorities found a way to make election campaigns less terrifying, Antara reported.
The commission has received reports from the three parties and the public concerning the violation of campaign rules, he said.
It will look into the reports next week and will check them in the field.
Bambang said the commission was especially concerned about campaigners who took children to rallies even though they knew the minimum age to participate in electoral activities was 17.
Police in Jakarta said they detained nine people, seven men and two women, during a street rally Thursday, for parading a mock coffin on a Kijang's roof.
Among those detained for questioning was the famous playwright Ratna Sarumpaet. The demonstrators drove around South Jakarta in the van with "Democracy" inscribed on the coffin.
Eyewitnesses said the van began its city tour at around 2 p.m.; the police stopped it about six hours later.
City Police Spokesman Lt. Col. E. Aritonang said the protesters were detained because they used something "unusual", namely the mock coffin, linen cloths and umbrellas commonly used in burial ceremonies.
In an interview with private TV station Indosiar before she was arrested Thursday, Ratna said the protesters meant to enliven the election campaign and warned the public against trampling on the principles of democracy.
Ratna leads the theater company Satu Merah Panggung. One of her works, Marsinah, which delves into the life of the eponymous labor heroine murdered in 1993, has been banned.
Senior government officials campaigned in various places in Central Java yesterday.
At a rally in Salatiga, Siswono Yudohusodo, the minister of transmigration, called on Golkar members to consider PPP and PDI supporters as "partners" and treat them accordingly.
"Never consider them the enemy," he told a gathering of some 60,000 Golkar supporters.
On several occasions during the campaign in Central Java and Yogyakarta, Golkar and PPP supporters have engaged in street brawls that developed into attacks on public properties.
Siswono said that Golkar supporters should be wary of irresponsible people's efforts to set one party's cadres against those of other parties.
"Golkar cadres should be careful of people who want radical political transformation through revolution," he said.
Siswono promised Golkar would remain committed to seeking greater democracy.
B.J. Habibie, the state minister of research and technology, told a gathering of 20,000 Golkar supporters in Surabaya yesterday to be careful of accusations that corruption was widespread in Indonesia.
"Without being supported with concrete data, such allegations should be disregarded. We have to be careful and wise in responding to such allegations," Habibie said. (har/wah/nur/imn/jun)