Tension rises in Sampang as revote plan rejected
By Ainur Sophiaan
SAMPANG, East Java (JP): Tension increased here yesterday when United Development Party (PPP) officials, backed by Moslem ulemas, rejected a government plan to repeat voting tomorrow in 86 polling stations.
They stuck to their demand that the government rerun balloting in all of Sampang regency's 1,035 polling stations where, they claim, the election was rigged.
East Java Governor Basofi Soedirman said the government would only repeat voting in 86 stations where ballot papers were destroyed in a riot which began hours after voting finished in the May 29 election.
Fear is growing that the stalemate will cause more riots. The revote was originally scheduled for yesterday but, for security reasons, the government postponed it until tomorrow.
Thousands of PPP supporters vandalized or torched government offices, the local Golkar headquarters, over 100 ballot boxes and dozens of civil servants' homes on election night. Fifteen people were arrested and two were wounded by rubber bullets.
PPP supporters in Sampang said government officials, who back Golkar, counted ballots in the subdistrict chief's office without PPP scrutineers.
Sporadic riots also broke out in Pamekasan and Sumenep. The predominantly Moslem island of Madura is a PPP stronghold.
The PPP decided to demand a revote in all 1,035 polling stations in a meeting attended by party secretary-general Tosari Widjaya and two influential ulemas, Alawy Muhammad and Cholid Busyairi.
Tosari, who hails from Madura, is heading a PPP team to investigate vote-rigging.
The PPP Sampang branch's deputy secretary, Djakfar, told The Jakarta Post that his party would not back down on its demand for a revote.
"In reality, voting in the whole regency was rigged. It's impossible for us to accept the results that the government announced," he said.
Sampang regent Fadhilah Budiono said he had made all the necessary preparations for the revote. Eligible voters had been sent notification cards.
The regent has asked the PPP to provide scrutineers at the 86 polling stations. But he conceded that the party had made it clear it would not do anything unless revoting was held across the whole regency.
New polling stations have been set up in subdistricts worst hit by the riot. They include Sampang city, Kedungndung and Jrengik.
Police and soldiers were deployed in the tense streets of Sampang yesterday but no incidents were reported.
Tosari refused to comment on the situation yesterday.
In Surabaya, governor Basofi Soedirman stressed that revoting would only go ahead in Sampang, not in other areas.
"If voting is repeated in all areas where poll rigging is suspected, the election will never end," he said.
The PPP, through its functionaries and Moslem ulemas, has called for a revote in other regencies, such as Jember, Ponorogo, Magetan, Sumenep, Bangkalan and Pamekasan.