LAKSAMANA.Net, April 11, 2004 09:09 PM
Review - Politics: Voting with the Feet
Laksamana.Net - Initial vote tallies were seen as a major thumbs down from the wong
cilik (little people), many of whom changed allegiance from President Megawati
Sukarnoputri's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) to other parties.
The two secular nationalist parties, President Megawati Sukarnoputri's Indonesian
Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and the Golkar party formed by former dictator
Suharto, are leading the race with about 20 percent of the vote each.
PDI-P's tally represented a 44% loss of the votes it took in the 1999 election, which
gave it 34% of the vote.
The parties that appear to have gained the most are the Prosperous Justice Party
(PKS), which was running at around 7% of the popular vote, and the Democratic Party
of former security minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, at a similar level. One polling
station survey said 8% of those who voted for PDI-P in 1999 chose the Democrat
Party this time and 7% shifted to Golkar.
Kwik Kian Gie, a senior PDI-P cadre, and current chairman of the National
Development Planning Agency, acknowledged on Wednesday (7/4/04) that the party's
performance had sent a loud message on their past performance in government.
Kwik, deeming the performance as a disaster, told a press conference. "The people
have used their voting right to say PDI-P has performed poorly since the 1999 general
election."
Analysts said the National Awakening Party (PKB), running in fourth position, was
likely to be the key party sought to join with one of the major winners to form a
coalition.
'Not Quite Right'
The Election Supervisory Committee (Panwaslu) disclosed Wednesday (7/4/04) that
they were checking a report that there had been indications of fraud in the ongoing
vote count.
"We are checking the tally, which is not quite right," head of the committee,
Komaruddin Hidayat, said while visiting a tally center.
This followed a sharp increase in votes for Golkar on Wednesday noon, showing it had
overtaken its main rival, the PDIP, by 415,733 votes.
Former president Abdurrahman Wahid also alleged fraud in the computerized tally of
election results.
"There is widespread fraud," he said in an interview on local radio, citing the vote
count and "various other" problems. "It's still a question whether the results of this
election can be accepted," he said Wednesday (74/04).
By Friday (9/4/04), seventeen of the 24 political parties were demanding the General
Elections Commission (KPU) recount all ballots tallied electronically because they
had no way to monitor the process.
"We want a total recounting of ballots at the district level with the involvement of all
political parties," Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) leader Hidayat Nurwahid said.
Hidayat said the group wanted all the final results at polling-station level published in
the mass media and on the Internet to allow the public to scrutinize the numbers.
Hidayat said the transfer of data from the District Election Committees (PPKS) to the
KPU computer system had not been witnessed by representatives from the political
parties.
Election rules state that only manual ballot counting, not computer counting, is to be
supervised by political parties.
Hidayat said the 17 parties had refused to sign any document to validate ballot
counting at the district level until the KPU resolved its IT ballot counting problem.
The 17 political parties include the Marhaenisme Indonesian Nationalist Party, the
Socialist Democratic Labor Party (PBSD), the Freedom Party, the United
Development Party (PPP), the United Democratic Nationhood Democrat Unity Party
(PPDK), the New Indonesian Alliance Party (Partai PIB), the Freedom Bull National
Party (PNBK), the Democratic Party, the Indonesian Justice and Unity Party (PKP
Indonesia), the Indonesian Democratic Vanguard Party (PPDI), the National Mandate
Party (PAN), the National Awakening Party (PKB), the PKS, Reform Star Party
(PBR), the Pancasila Patriots' Party, the Indonesian Unity Party (PSI), and the
Pioneers' Party.
The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and Golkar were among the
seven parties that made no protest.
Panwaslu called on the KPU to be more transparent in its IT ballot counting.
Panwaslu head Komaruddin Hidayat said the counting was also marred by a weak
data delivery network.
The public had no idea about the type of network used to deliver election results from
the District Election Committees (PPK) to the KPU, he said.
Worse still, the counting process had not been audited by an independent body, thus
lowering the credibility of the system.
No Coalition for Golkar
Golkar had been waiting for the results of the legislative election before resolving
whether to go for a presidential bid, or be content with the vice presidency, and a large
percentage of the executive cabinet.
No doubt encouraged by the early results, party leader Akbar Tanjung insisted
Wednesday (7/4/04) that the party would not explore the possibility of a coalition with
another political party.
"We don't want to talk about coalitions. We are focusing on vote-counting," said
Tanjung.
"We will put up our own presidential candidate," he said. "It is hard for my party to
accept being No. 2 to Megawati if we beat the PDI-P," he told the press after meeting
two top executives of the Indonesian arm of the International Crisis Group (ICG).
The organization's president Gareth Evans, along with Sidney Jones, ICG Indonesia's
Project Director, met Tanjung to discuss the political situation after the April 5
election.
Tanjung said the pair had told him they hoped the general elections would bring
changes to Indonesia.
"Gareth Evans also congratulated me for Golkar's good showing so far in the
election," he said.
Both Evans, a former Australian foreign minister, and Jones refused to comment
directly to the media.
Appeal for Calm
In a speech to the nation on Thursday President Megawati called on the public to
remain "calm and patient" while awaiting the final results from Monday's parliamentary
elections.
She called on the people not to mock the flaws of the election. "These flaws are
normal and should not be exaggerated. The recent legislative election is the first for
us, thus it is not necessary to ridicule (the flaws of the election) as it would only
discourage our spirit," Megawati said.
In a media conference at the state palace after the speech Megawati thanked
foreigners living in Indonesia for, as she put it, maintaining confidence and not leaving
the country during the parliamentary polls, adding that the polls were peaceful and
successful.
European Union monitors concurred with this, confirming that the polls had been
carried out in a peaceful and credible manner, with the single exception of voting in
Aceh.
Its 231 monitors, the largest team ever deployed for a single election, had covered
1,244 polling stations in the country's 32 provinces.
"The process culminating on Election Day (April 5) had credibility and integrity," said
Glyn Ford, chief of the EU Election Observation Mission, on Thursday (8/4/04).
Although the EU election monitoring team was also permitted to observe voting in 23
urban centers in Aceh, Ford told a press conference the EU had been unable to draw
any conclusions as to the validity or otherwise of the overall conduct of the elections
in the province.
Share prices on the Jakarta Stock Exchange rose by nearly 3% on Tuesday, the
highest single-day rise since early February, prompting Megawati to say on
Wednesday "political problems do not interfere with economic ones."
Safety of the Nation
No less than eleven political parties, including four major Muslim-oriented parties, and
several public figures agreed on Thursday (8/4/04) to form an alliance to try to agree
on a candidate for the upcoming presidential election.
At the meeting were two likely presidential candidates - former president
Abdurrahman Wahid and former military chief Wiranto.
"We agree to build a progressive and dynamic political alliance that is formed of
political parties and public figures," the group said in a statement entitled Joint
Statement for the Safety of the Nation.
It said the group hopes that a "big and strong coalition" can be formed and a
presidential candidate supported "as an initial step in repairing the condition of the
nation".
Among the parties in the alliance were Abdurrahman's National Awakening Party
(PKB), Vice President Hamzah Haz's United Development Party (PPP), the
Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) and the National Mandate Party (PAN).
The new alliance also slammed the General Elections Commission (KPU) for what it
called the many irregularities and mistakes in the early phase of vote counting though
saying the problems could not be separated from "the accumulation of failures of the
current government."
MPR's Days Numbered
The People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) Assembly as an institution will no longer
exist under new proposals announced by the Constitutional Commission, established
last year to synchronize changes to the 1945 Constitution.
Commission deputy chairman Albert Hasibuan told local media on Tuesday (6/4/04)
that, under the proposal, amendments to the Constitution would be made through a
national referendum and endorsed by a joint session of the House and the Regional
Representatives Council (DPD).
"We have agreed to scrap the authority of the MPR (to amend the Constitution)
because it will no longer be a permanent body, but a joint session between the House
of Representatives and the Regional Representatives Council," Hasibuan said.
Other major changes proposed by the Commission include restricting the tenure of
House members to two five-year terms.
The new Regional Representatives' Council (DPD) will have the right to submit bills
and deliberate the drafts with the House and the Constitutional Court will have the
authority to review legislation that contravenes the Constitution.
Constitutional amendments last year included the adoption of a bicameral system
under which a joint session of the House and DPD, the Indonesian version of the US
Senate, will replace the MPR.
However, any recommendations or changes to the Constitution, will still need approval
from the Assembly.
The commission is also proposing to limit the power of the newly established
Constitutional
Court to reviewing legislation and regulations, while handing over other powers to the
Supreme Court.
Existing articles on human rights in the Constitution will be scrapped in favor of a
single article to declare international conventions as part of Indonesian legislation. The
article would read: "The state protects and promotes human rights and human
liberty."
Supporters Demand Ba'asyir's Release
Supporters of jailed militant cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir rallied Wednesday (7/4/04) for
his release while his lawyers said it was "inevitable" their client would soon face
another trial on terror charges.
Shouting "God is Great," about 100 students from a school founded by Ba'asyir in the
Central Java town of Ngruki protested outside national police headquarters,
demanding that Ba'asyir be released from jail as scheduled.
Ba'asyir - who has successfully defended previous attempts to convict him of treason
and terror-related crimes - is currently doing time for minor immigration offenses.
In recent weeks both the Australian and United States governments have expressed
their concern about his impending release. The aging cleric could be released as early
as the last week of April, after serving 18-months of his twice-reduced sentence.
He has consistently denied accusations that he is Jemaah Islamiyah's spiritual head.
The US and Australia have publicly called on Jakarta not to release him, saying he is
a key Southeast Asian terror leader. Police have said they may declare him a
suspect in the 2002 Bali bombings, which would mean he would stay in detention for
the foreseeable future.
"The police are itching to arrest Ba'asyir again," said his lawyer, Muhammad Assegaf.
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