Yogie denies allegations of 'political census' in villages
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)