Rights abuse rife during campaign

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)