Rights body calls for fair election

JAKARTA (JP): The National Commission on Human Rights urged the three parties Saturday to ensure an honest and fair election to facilitate democratization.

The commission's secretary-general, Baharuddin Lopa, criticized the United Development Party (PPP), Golkar and the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) for breaking the law.

He said violations included alleged poll-rigging attempts by Golkar in Bengkulu and Lampung, and Golkar-affiliated organizations' "operation dawn" to provide food and drinks to people in Golkar-unfriendly areas before they go to polling stations on May 29.

"Such practices violate freedoms of speech and expression," he told a press conference. He said the parties should obey all campaign rules.

"Everybody should realize that winning the election through such means (cheating) will only violate the meaning of democratization," he said.

He called for proper legal sanctions against campaign and election rule violators to educate people on politics. He said the increasing violence committed by supporters of the three parties had violated the public's right to freedom from fear.

Lopa questioned the government's decision to ban banners and posters on the alliance between supporters of ousted PDI chief Megawati Soekarnoputri and the PPP.

"If the banners were made by people's initiative, why should we disagree with their aspirations?" he asked.

The government banned the banners and pictures last week for breaching election rules and an agreement between the three parties. The government is planning to strengthen the ban with a presidential decree.

The PPP, Golkar -- which has been in power since 1971 -- and the PDI will vie for 425 seats in the 500-seat House of Representatives. The remaining 75 seats are reserved for the Armed Forces, whose members do not vote.

PPP deputy secretary-general Bachtiar Chamsyah said Saturday that his party had discovered two more poll-rigging attempts. One was an instruction from the Ministry of Education's East Jakarta office to headmasters of state and private high schools to persuade students to vote Golkar.

The other case involved the reported intimidation of a PPP activist by a subdistrict head in Indragiri Hilir regency, Riau. The activist had been threatened with violence unless he relinquished his PPP membership. (05/imn)