Rights body calls for fair election

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)