Soebandrio not allowed to vote in 1997 election
JAKARTA (JP): The government yesterday slammed the door on the possibility of whether three recently released political prisoners would be allowed to vote in next year's general election.
Coordinating Minister for Political Affairs and Security Soesilo Soedarman told journalists that Soebandrio, Omar Dhani and Soetarto had not met the requirements pertaining to the restoration of voting rights for former political prisoners.
"Their right to vote cannot yet be considered because they have to have been released at least one year prior to voting registration in order to be evaluated for reinstatement," said Soesilo, referring to Article 2 of Presidential Decree No. 63/1985.
Based on the presidential decree, former political prisoners must pass an evaluation before they are eligible to regain the voting rights which they lost while in prison.
The three men were imprisoned for nearly three decades for their involvement in the 1965 abortive communist coup before being pardoned by President Soeharto in August of last year.
Soebandrio was foreign minister at the time of the coup while Omar Dhani was Air Force commander and R.S. Soetarto was deputy chief of intelligence.
In consideration of their ages and Indonesia's 50th anniversary of independence, the three were pardoned and released in August. Announcing this move, the government identified them as sympathizers of the Indonesian Communist Party and not members.
The Armed Forces has expressed caution towards their release.
Soesilo's statement effectively ended public speculation on whether the pardon also meant the three's voting rights would be restored.
Soesilo was speaking yesterday at the end of a monthly ministerial meeting on politics and security.
Also attending yesterday's meeting were Minister of Home Affairs Yogie S. Memed, Minister of Justice Oetojo Oesman, Armed Forces Commander Gen. Feisal Tanjung, Chief of the State Intelligence Board Lt. Gen. Moetojib and Minister of Religious Affairs Tarmizi Taher.
After chairing the meeting, Soesilo announced that 1,178,526 former political prisoners had been evaluated for their eligibility to vote, of which 1,157,820 were deemed acceptable.
Among the criteria that determine their eligibility is whether they have demonstrated loyalty to the state, the 1945 Constitution and Pancasila ideology. They must also demonstrate that they are no longer patrons of communism, Marxism or Leninism.
The Ministry of Home Affair's Director General for Social and Political Affairs, Soetoyo NK, said yesterday that the number of former political prisoners barred from voting has been declining.
He said the number has dropped from 41,000 in the 1987 election and 35,000 in the 1992 election to 20,706 in 1997.
Speaking about the establishment of independent poll watchdogs, Soesilo firmly said that while every citizen has the right to monitor the elections, it would be better if such activities were not institutionalized.
"The government holds the position that election monitoring committees are not needed," he stated.
Several independent poll watchdogs have been formed in the last month. The most prominent is the Independent Election Monitoring Committee (KIPP) set up by the former editor of the defunct Tempo magazine, Goenawan Mohamad, and other leading rights activists, lawyers and academics.
Soesilo refused to elaborate on the fate of these independent poll groups or whether they should be disbanded. He also refused to comment when asked if sanctions would be imposed on these groups if they persist in their intentions.
He said that the government had already established an official Election Supervision Committee (Panwaslak) and that should individual voters find inconsistencies in the election process, they should report this to that committee. (mds)