Yogie denies allegations of 'political census' in villages
JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Home Affairs Moch. Yogie S.M. yesterday denied reports that East and Central Java neighborhood chiefs have been campaigning door-to-door for Golkar, the ruling political group, ahead of next year's election.
Yogie said the allegations that neighborhood chiefs have been conducting a "political census" are unfounded.
He said his own investigation found such a census being done in only one kampong in the Central Java town of Tegal. "The rest is a lie."
In the Tegal census, respondents were asked to produce identification and divulge personal details, but were not asked which political party they intended to vote for, he said.
The minister also cleared the village chief and neighborhood officials of any wrongdoing in running the census, saying they had the right to know more about their residents.
Yogie said he had already checked with Tegal administrators concerning the allegations of campaigning and determined that they were not substantiated by facts.
The central executive boards of the United Development Party (PPP) and the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) said last week they had received complaints from party members about a "political census".
The complainants said neighborhood chiefs have been knocking on their doors and distributing forms on which they were asked to write their names and addresses, their field of work and which political party they intended to vote for in the 1997 election.
The complaints came from PDI and PPP members in the Central Java towns of Tegal, Pekalongan and Pemalang, and in Gresik and Pasuruan regencies in East Java regencies.
The party leaders said the census amounted to intimidation and held Golkar responsible.
Yogie, who heads the National General Election Institute, said if the PPP and PDI were not happy with the census, they could take the case to the official Election Supervision Committee, which would further investigate the matter.
The minister also suggested that PPP take its complaint about premature electioneering by Golkar to the committee.
"They're welcome to file complaints, as long as they can substantiate their claims," he said.
He added that he could not understand the suspicions PPP harbors about the government's honest intention to conduct a fair election.
PPP leaders accused Golkar on Thursday of campaigning in violation of the electoral law which permits campaigns and rallies only in the month immediately before polling day.
Asked to comment on the row in the PDI leadership, Yogie reaffirmed the government's recognition of Megawati Soekarnoputri as the chairperson of the party. "To this day, she is the legally elected chairperson," he said.
He suggested that in order to break the current impasse in PDI's East Java Chapter, the party should hold an extraordinary congress there to determine a new chapter leader.
The chapter leadership has been heatedly contested by two party figures. The row has undermined Megawati's already shaky leadership.
Yogie stressed that the row is essentially PDI's internal affair and should not be seen as a conflict between the government and Megawati's board as some people would have it.
The East Java leadership is being contested by the incumbent chairman Latief Pudjosakti, who has the tacit support of East Java Governor Basofi Sudirman, and Soetjipto, who was appointed by Megawati.
Yogie said that if the government has refused to recognize Megawati's choice for the PDI leadership in East Java, that is because the majority of PDI members in East Java have not accepted him, and not because the government is opposed to him.
The minister emphasized that any plan by Megawati's opponents in PDI to hold an extraordinary congress must follow regulations.
A number of discontented PDI members have announced that they will hold such a congress next month and appoint a new leader to replace Megawati. (rms)