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)