Some 60 parties expected in June poll

Some 60 parties expected in June poll

JAKARTA (JP): The independent Team of Eleven revealed on
Monday only around 60 of the 104 political parties it was
examining were expected to pass screening to contest the June 7
general election.

Mulyana W. Kusumah told The Jakarta Post by telephone from
Semarang in Central Java on Monday he had in his hands the names
of 12 parties which have met all legal requirements to contest
the elections.

"We checked 56 political parties in the first round of the
verification stage last week and found only 20 eligible for the
polls," he said.

He said the team was making a two-day visit to ten provinces,
including Central Java, Lampung, North Sumatra and South
Sulawesi, to examine 40 of the last batch of 48 parties which
have been registered with the team.

"The other eight will not be verified because they have
chapters in less than nine provinces," he said.

He said the team led by Muslim intellectual Nurcholish Madjid
would hold a plenary session Tuesday night to discuss party
eligibility for the elections.

Minister of Home Affairs Syarwan Hamid called on the newly
registered political parties not to be frustrated if they were
disqualified for failing to meet the minimum requirements set by
the government.

Separately the PKP (Justice and Unity Party) claimed on Sunday
that it had reached an agreement with the PKB (National Awakening
Party) and the PDI Perjuangan (Indonesian Democratic Party of
Struggle) to establish a coalition to contest the general
election and in forming a new government.

"We have reached the agreement. We only need to discuss
technical problems," PKP deputy chairman Tatto Pradjamanggala
said in Bandung, West Java.

Tatto said the agreement was recently reached by PKP chairman
Gen. (ret) Edi Sudradjat, chairman of PKB's Mathori Abdul Djalil,
and leader of PDI Perjuangan Megawati Soekarnoputri. He refused
to give further details.

Chairman of the PAN (National Mandate Party) Amien Rais,
however, played down the significance of the coalition plan.

"PAN can set up a coalition with any parties. But it will
depend very much on the result of the elections," he said after
attending a PAN gathering in Bandung.

Meanwhile, in a bid to prepare for possible violence in
Central Java, the leaders of 11 political parties including
Golkar, PAN, PKB, PKP and Partai Keadilan (Justice Party) agreed
on Monday not to mobilize their supporters during the campaign
period. Instead, they will hold public debates.

"The mobilization of the masses is a very dangerous exercise,"
according to Prabowo from PKP.

Meanwhile, the chairman of Central Java's PPP (United
Development Party), Karmani, expressed confidence that the 26-
year-old party would win at least 22 percent of the votes.

"This number would be adequate for us to nominate our own
presidential candidate," Karmani said.

Separately the political leaders in Lampung deplored on Monday
the beating of the chairman of PDI (Indonesian Democratic Party)
Budi Hardjono in Lampung by his opponents and said such a
shameful act would endanger the growth of democracy.

"Differences of views should not be handled physically. This
is an arrogant act, and can not be tolerated at all," said
chairman of the pro-founding president Sukarno Marhaen Party Andi
Achmad.

Budi was leading a ceremony to commemorate PDI's 26th
anniversary in Bandar Lampung on Sunday, when the supporters of
PDI Perjuangan, chaired by rival Megawati Soekarnoputri, suddenly
ambushed the venue and beat him up.

"It is regrettable that a party should act in such an
unsympathetic way," provincial Golkar executive Martubi Makki
said on Monday. (rms/43/har/21/45/prb)