Yogie defends 'nepotism' in House candidature

Yogie defends 'nepotism' in House candidature

JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Home Affairs Moch. Yogie S.M.
defended yesterday the reportedly "nepotistic" recruitment of
legislature candidates for the May 29 general election.

He told the press to stop making mountains out of molehills,
saying there was nothing wrong with the present provisional list
of candidates for 1997-2002 membership of the House of
Representatives.

"You should not exaggerate the extent of nepotism in
nominations to the House, there is nothing wrong with it if the
candidates selected are capable of the job," he said after
inducting middle-ranked officials at the ministry's secretariat
yesterday.

"What's important is that the candidates are capable of
representing their people," he added.

The list of candidates for the House of Representatives,
especially the one drawn up by the ruling political grouping
Golkar, bears the strong presence of the offspring and wives of
high-ranking government and military officials.

Also yesterday, Yogie encouraged the public to file complaints
to the General Elections Institute, which he chairs, should they
find irregularities in the nomination of candidates.

"People can complain about any legislature candidates," he
said.

However, he reiterated that complaints should be supported by
facts. "Don't lodge complaints based on hearsay and don't send
anonymous letters," he said.

So far, the institute has yet to receive any complaints.

The provisional list of legislature candidates was made public
Monday and the public have about a month to raise their
objections before the final list is announced.

Commenting on ousted Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) leader
Megawati Soekarnoputri's protest about the General Elections
Institute's endorsement of the candidate list submitted by her
rival, Soerjadi, Yogie said: "The government will remain firm on
its stance, namely recognizing only the legal chairmanship".

"We won't drop the PDI legislative candidates submitted by
Soerjadi as they have met the legal and constitutional
requirements," he said.

Separately, secretary-general of the Ministry of Home Affairs
Suryatna Subrata said any complaints from Megawati would be
delivered to the PDI central board -- in this case Soerjadi's
board.

He shared Yogie's opinion that the government should only
recognize the PDI under Soerjadi. He also said the General
Elections Institute was ready to face a lawsuit by Megawati.

"Megawati should realize she is no longer the chairperson of
PDI," he said.

Megawati was democratically elected chairperson by popular
vote in an extraordinary congress in Surabaya in 1993. She was
unseated last June, when a government-sanctioned congress held in
the North Sumatra capital of Medan elected Soerjadi as the new
party leader.

Also yesterday, some 50 Megawati supporters went to the
General Elections Institute office to protest the institute's
endorsement of Soerjadi's list and rejection of Megawati's list.

The delegation, led by PDI Jakarta chapter chairman Roy. B.B.
Janis, was received by deputy spokesman for the elections
institute A. Zumaidy.

Roy told reporters the institute should not have endorsed
Soerjadi's list of candidates on grounds that the PDI leadership
was still being tested in court. (imn)