Uphold election rules: Soeharto

Uphold election rules: Soeharto

JAKARTA (JP): President Soeharto called on the public
yesterday to stick to the rules of the game in the 1997 general
election.

Only if everybody follows the rules will the upcoming election
proceed peacefully, the president said, addressing the annual
three-day conference of the Information Ministry.

"I would like to use this occasion to urge all government
officials, contestants and the public to make the 1997 election a
success," the President said.

The President said that people will go to polling stations and
cast their ballots only if the election is peaceful.

Three political organizations, Golkar, the United Development
Party (PPP) and the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI), will take
part in the election.

They will contest 425 of the 500 seats in the House of
Representatives. The 75 remaining seats are reserved for the
Armed Forces, which do not take part in the election.

The general election will be followed by the presidential
election in March 1998 by the 1,000 member People's Consultative
Assembly, which consists of all 500 House members,
representatives of the bureaucracy and major organizations.

Soeharto said the election, the fifth in his 30-year reign, is
not only a process to elect new House members.

"It is also a forum to push democracy ahead," he said. "Our
success in development is not measured by economic success but
also by our democracy," he said.

Four hundred and sixty-three officials of the information
ministry attended the conference. The President asked them to
prepare the information campaign for the upcoming election.

"The campaign should focus on improving the public's political
awareness for a better implementation of the general election.
(pan)