Voters to decide nation's future

Voters to decide nation's future

JAKARTA (JP): A perhaps long and twisting pursuit for a
democratic society will commence when some 112 million people
across the country go to the polls on Monday.

On the eve of the historic elections, the eighth in
Indonesia's 54 year-old history and the first since the downfall
of long-time ruler Soeharto, President Habibie capped popular
calls on the nation to exercise its right to vote in order to
free itself from conflicts and authoritarianism.

"We all hope for a global community which will make the
Indonesian nation a model of how a big nation could free itself
from conflicts and the trap of authoritarianism," Habibie said in
a speech televised nationwide.

Habibie, who will assure himself of a full five-year term and
a breakaway from mentor Soeharto's shadow if ruling party Golkar
stretches its three-decade grip, said the polls would serve as a
test whether Indonesia was fully ready for the true democracy.

He stressed that democracy meant people's maturity to accept
whatever results of the polls.

"A win or a defeat is a normal and inseparable part of
elections," Habibie said.

"Democracy and the culture of democracy can only be built by a
nation that is capable of restraint. Accept victory without
harassing those defeated, and accept defeat without turning the
winner into an enemy."

Golkar, touted to enjoy the lion's share of the vote despite
its waning popularity and nationwide anger against it, announced
on Sunday it was prepared to accept an unprecedented defeat
provided that the polls run in a fair and free manner.

"We will accept the outcome of the polls...and recognize the
winning party. But we demand the same treatment if Golkar proves
itself it still wins the trust of majority of Indonesian people,"
Golkar chairman Akbar Tandjung said before a mass prayer at the
party's headquarters here.

Monday's elections are mandated by the People's Consultative
Assembly in a special session last November, which followed
Soeharto's resignation in May last year.

An exactly 426 of 500 House of Representatives seats will up
for grabs. The remaining 38 seats have been reserved for military
and police, a drop from 75 in the last elections held under the
discredited New Order in 1997.

But controversy marred last minute preparations on Sunday,
with Golkar's biggest contenders National Mandate Party (PAN) and
Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) filing
protests.

Following up reports of PAN's East Java provincial chapter,
chairman Amien Rais lodged complaint to General Elections
Commission chairman Rudini about thousands of ballot papers which
were found with another party logo looking just like PAN's.

PAN suspects the mistake of having the base color of the
Indonesian Muslim Awakening Party (Kami) blue or purple on the
papers, making it similar to PAN instead of its original black is
intentional, aimed to confuse potential PAN voters.

After the meeting it was agreed that the ballot papers would
not be replaced, an action which would delay the election.

"Amien could actually demand that the election be delayed," an
observer said, but Amien said for the "national interest" PAN
would not take the risk of having millions of ballot papers
across the country reprinted again, thus delaying the poll.

Amien added he was not entirely satisfied with the
commission's ruling, but it was more important that Rudini agreed
to immediately make clarifications through the media on the
issue, he said.

Separately, PDI Perjuangan's team of lawyers went to the
National Police following the circulation of leaflets persuading
people not to vote for the party for naming non-Muslim
legislative candidates.

The leaflets, apparently circulated in support of the
Indonesian Council of Ulemas' message, were also seen in East
Java capital of Surabaya.

Last minute preparations for the polls featured enthusiastic
cooperation among residents who pitched in to cover lack of
costs, some of which they suspected were corrupted. Election
committees across the country are set to conduct the poll in
whatever condition despite continuing reports of glitches up to
Sunday.

Several local community leaders in Jakarta said that were
forced to collect money from their community members and
companies located nearby to meet the budget for building voting
places.

Leader of neighborhood association of Kalipasir subdistrict in
Central Jakarta, Rozali, said that KPU's decision to only
allocate Rp 40,000 was irrational, "it is not enough even to rent
a modest tent in which the cost is now about Rp 100,000".

He said that to fulfill the need of Rp 400,000 to establish
four voting places he was forced to ask for donation from offices
located nearby, while for the sake of economizing residences were
asked to provide meals for subdistrict elections committee
officials (KPPS) during the poll.

East Java capital of Surabaya woke up to rare silence on
Sunday as thousands of residents left the country's second
largest city for their hometowns for the polls.

People were seen setting up polling booths in their respective
neighborhoods later in the day. The provincial administration has
earmarked Rp 40,000 for the construction of a polling booth and
Rp 20,000 to pay salary of each subdistrict polling committee
chief.

The limited government fund forced subdistrict polling
committees to ask financial assistance from surrounding
neighborhood communities.

From Manokwari, Irian Jaya, discrepancy was found in the list
of registered voters, a local election committee member, Solihin
Wahid, told The Jakarta Post on Saturday. He said 92,120 voters
were in the official list announced by the regency election
committee, 20,043 more than total number of people who had signed
up for the polls in the regency's 17 districts.

"Where did the additional voters come from?" Solihin asked.

Incongruity in the list of voters was also discovered in West
Nusa Tenggara.

Meanwhile the Central Java election committee questioned the
leak of funds for ballot boxes. The agency reported that the
General Election Commission had allowed Rp 72,000 per box but
only Rp 62,000 per box was used.