Universities band together to form poll watchdog

Universities band together to form poll watchdog

JAKARTA (JP): Another poll monitoring network has been set up
in Semarang to meet the vast need for volunteers for the
elections slated for June.

Rectors of state and private universities across Central Java
agreed Wednesday to set up an election monitoring network to help
oversee the polls in the province.

The network is the second to be set up by universities after
last month's announced establishment of the University Network
for a Free and Fair Election (Unfrel). Announced at the
University of Indonesia, this comprises higher learning
institutions in several provinces.

Also on Wednesday, the network announced the creation of its
Greater Jakarta branch on the campus of the University of
Indonesia in Depok, south of here.

The country's first private monitoring group, the Independent
Election Monitoring Committee (KIPP), was set up to cover the
1997 polls.

The committee said in September it only had 9,000 volunteers
and welcomed the set up of more monitoring groups.

It had said preparations for monitoring polls this year would
be more complex given speculation as to whether the election
would actually take place in view of the unstable political
situation.

The appearance of these university networks followed the
appeal of 159 rectors from all over Indonesia last November in
Bandung. They called on academic communities to serve as
independent observers of the upcoming polls.

However Minister of Education and Culture Juwono Sudarsono,
while supporting these efforts, called for the utmost caution in
view of the heated political atmosphere, and stressed the need to
remain independent.

"There are perceptions that monitoring bodies have vested
interests in helping Golkar win," he added, referring to the
dominant political grouping.

He said Wednesday at his office that personally he thought it
would be better if rectors, in their individual capacities,
joined existing poll monitoring bodies.

"Too many monitoring groups will only create confusion," he
said after the installment of three rectors from the Medan
Teachers' Training College, the University of North Sumatra and
the Pattimura University in Ambon, Maluku.

Rector of the Gen. Sudirman University in Purwokerto,
Rubiyanto Misman, who initiated the Central Java networking plan,
said the forum would be announced on Jan. 13. The Semarang
meeting was attended by 110 rectors.

"We hope this network can help to uphold democracy in the
country," he told The Jakarta Post.

Separately 17 state and private universities set up the
Greater Jakarta chapter of the University Network for a Free and
Fair Election.

Volunteer training and training for trainers will be conducted
as soon as possible.

Lecturer Ani Soetjipto, a member of the network's steering
committee, said it was already working to monitor the ongoing
deliberation of political bills at the House of Representatives.

Its coordinators include noted lawyer Todung Mulya Lubis, also
a founder of the Independent Election Monitoring Committee.

Todung said that universities and colleges have a prominent
role in poll monitoring because they cover the archipelago much
more comprehensively than other private bodies. (01/45/edt)