Tue, 02 Mar 1999

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)