LAKSAMANA.Net, May 17, 2004 12:01 AM
Review - Politics: Six Contenders for Hot Seat
Laksamana.Net - The last day for presidential and vice presidential candidates to
register for the country's first ever direct presidential election July 5 fell on Wednesday
(12/5/04) with six pairs of candidates registering.
The General Elections Commission (KPU) is expected to complete the verification of
the candidates' credentials by May 22 and publicly announce the eligible candidates
on the same day. The draw for the position on the ballot paper will be conducted the
following day.
The KPU confirmed the final list of candidates on Friday (14/5/04). They are as
follows:
* Susilo Bambang Yudhyono, former top security minister under President Megawati
Sukarnoputri. His Democrat Party will have 57 seats in the new parliament.
Yudhyono's running mate is Jusuf Kalla, former Coordinating Minister for Social
Welfare in the same administration and a business tycoon in his own right.
* Wiranto, former military chief, who defeated Golkar chairman Akbar Tanjung for the
presidential ticket. Golkar won the April elections and will have 128 seats. The retired
general's running mate is Solahuddin Wahid, also known as Gus Solah, brother of
Abdurrahman Wahid, the country's fourth president. He was deputy chief of the
human rights commission (Komnas Ham) and deputy of the country's biggest Muslim
organization, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU).
* Amien Rais, leader of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), the country's
highest legislative body and former leader of the country's second largest Muslim
group, Muhammadiyah. His National Mandate Party (PAN) won less than seven% of
the votes in the legislative elections. Running with Rais is Siswono Yudhohusodo,
respected businessman, chief of the Indonesian Farmers Association and several
times a minister in the Suharto era.
* Hamzah Haz, current Vice President and leader of the Islamic-oriented United
Development Party (PPP), which will have 58 seats in parliament. Running with Haz is
Agum Gumelar, another retired general and Minister for Communications in the
Megawati government.
* Megawati Sukarnoputri, incumbent President and leader of the Indonesian
Democratic Party-Struggle (PDI-P), which will have 109 seats. Her running mate is
Hasyim Muzadi, head of the NU.
* Abdurrahman 'Gus Dur' Wahid, president before being deposed in July 2001 and
patron and former head of the NU. Running with him is leading eastern Indonesia
representative for Golkar, Marwah Daud Ibrahim.
KPU regulations require all candidates to undergo a medical checkup, including an
eye test, a policy widely criticized as discriminatory against the disabled.
As well as their eyesight, the candidates must all have their hearts, blood, memory
functions and reproductive systems examined by a special at the Gatot Subroto Army
hospital.
On Saturday (15/5/04) Wahid severely criticized the General Elections Commission
(KPU) for banning him from contesting the presidency on medical grounds, saying he
would be non-active in his political party. Wahid said earlier that should the KPU
disqualify him for poor health, he would quit politics.
Commission member Anas Urbaningrum refused to confirm the result of the medical
test on Wahid. "The announcement of whether pairs of presidential and vice
presidential candidates are eligible for the election will be on May 22," he said.
The latest survey by the Jakarta-based Indonesian Survey Institute shows that support
for Yudhoyono has soared to 40.6% of the 1,216 respondents' votes. He eclipsed
Megawati, a distant second with 14.7% of votes.
Megawati is still in the running despite her party's embarrassing setback in the April
parliamentary polls. She has close to 20% of the popular vote, mostly from the
nationalists.
Megawati Returns to Unity Platform
President Megawati Sukarnoputri said Wednesday (12/5/04) that her Indonesian
Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) was prepared to "propel her to victory" in the
presidential election and if re-elected she would work to maintain the unity of the
country.
Speaking after registering with the KPU for the presidential election, Megawati said:
"It is our vision and mission to improve Indonesia to enable it to have a better future
under the unitary state."
"When I took this job, the condition of the country was in shambles due to the
ongoing crisis. With hard work in the past three years, there are many things that
have been achieved," claimed Megawati.
She said her first priority after being re-elected would be to draw up a new map of the
unitary state of the Republic of Indonesia.
Megawati also said she was determined to improve the democratic lives of the people
and to enhance reforms in the government.
Her presidential running mate, Hasyim Muzadi, said he was prepared to fight
corruption, collusion and nepotism.
The president has been urged to fill vacant ministerial posts with permanent
replacements, although her administration's term will end in less than five months.
"Everybody wants to be a minister, and Indonesia has numerous suitable people for
the positions, but she (Megawati) doesn't want to recruit them," National Mandate
Party (PAN) legislator Alvin Lie said on Friday (14/5/04).
According to him, the President should appoint replacements for Communications
Minister Agum Gumelar, Defense Minister Matori Abdul Djalil and Justice and Human
Rights Minister Yusril Ihza Mahendra because their portfolios were strategic.
Megawati, he added, lacked seriousness in dealing with national matters and this was
reflected in her reluctance to appoint permanent replacements for resigning ministers.
The President has named interim ministers, whose workloads are already heavy, to
take over from senior ministers Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Jusuf Kalla. Another
minister, Agum Gumelar, has joined the presidential race, but not yet quit the
Cabinet.
Ba'asyir Refuses Freedom
Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir refused Monday (10/5/04) to allow his lawyers to file
a temporary release motion on humanitarian grounds because, he said, this would
mean begging for leniency from the United States.
One of Ba'asyir's lawyers, M. Luthfie Hakim Luthfie, explained that Article 31 of the
Criminal Code Procedures allows a lawyer to submit such a request only with
permission from the client or his family.
"Ustadz asked us to cancel our plan, saying that his detention was due partially to
US intervention," he said after visiting Ba'asyir at the National Police Headquarters.
Ba'asyir's lawyers then changed tack and threatened to file a pretrial motion against
the National Police on the basis of Article 79 of the Criminal Law Procedures Code if
Ba'asyir was not released within a week. The article allows a district court to review
the validity of an arrest or detention.
"We demand the National Police chief release Abu Bakar Ba'asyir unconditionally, as
also requested by Islamic leaders throughout the country and politicians within the
legislature," said Luthfie.
The lawyers claimed police did not have sufficient initial evidence to arrest Ba'asyir on
terrorism charges. "His arrest was unlawful and baseless so we will file a lawsuit,"
Muhammad Assegaf said. "By law, the police must give us the preliminary evidence
and they haven't done so."
Brig. Gen. Pranowo, head of the national police anti-terrorist and bomb division, said
that evidence would be presented during the trial.
Ba'asyir, 66, was re-arrested last month as soon as he finished serving an 18-month
term for minor immigration offenses.
He was transferred to a new air-conditioned cell at Jakarta Police Headquarters on
Friday (14/5/04). The cleric is the sole occupant of a newly renovated detention
center, which has five large air-conditioned en suite bedrooms with new spring beds,
dining and living rooms.
"It's for elderly detainees, because we assume they will need special attention. For
example, most of them need to go to the toilet frequently," explained Jakarta Police
chief Insp. Gen. Makbul Padmanagara.
Solahuddin Backs Wiranto
Solahuddin Wahid, running mate of presidential candidate Wiranto, claimed Tuesday
(11/5/04) that both of them had the same vision, mission and commitment even in law
enforcement.
"We have the same commitment to bringing about a just and prosperous Indonesia,"
Wahid, deputy chairman of the human rights commission (Komnas Ham) said when
confirming his vice presidential bid for Golkar.
Wahid called on the public to come to terms with the past and not to dwell on its
bitter legacy.
"We need to be wiser in looking into the past. The time is right to turn vengeance into
forgiveness and by revealing the truth... we hope that human rights abuse will not
recur in the future," he said.
In 2002 Wahid led a Komnas HAM team investigating the May 1998 riots. The team
failed to subpoena several key military officers, including Wiranto, as they simply
ignored the summons.
Wahid, who has officially relinquished his position in Komnas HAM, said he would
hold talks with a number of non-governmental organizations and victims of human
rights abuse to explain his decision to team up with Wiranto.
Wiranto has consistently denied violating human rights. Apart from the 1998 riots, he
was also held responsible for the bloody mayhem that engulfed East Timor following a
1999 referendum in which most voted to separate from Indonesia.
On Monday (10/5/040 a United Nations-sponsored East Timor tribunal issued an
arrest warrant for Wiranto for alleged crimes against humanity in the East Timor
violence. Wiranto said Tuesday that the warrant was the latest effort in a smear
campaign, involving certain parties in the country, to thwart his presidential bid.
"This is nothing new. I have been accused of committing almost the worst of all
crimes, from human rights violations, money counterfeiting to involvement in a bank
scandal," he told reporters.
US Concerns
US ambassador Ralph L. Boyce said Friday that Indonesia now recognizes the threat
of terrorism but there are still challenges ahead.
Australia's former envoy Richard Woolcott also addressed a two-day seminar on
presidential candidates held by the Center for Strategic and International Studies
(CSIS).
Boyce noted that while the security condition has improved a lot, "some important
terrorist suspects, whose names we all know, are still out there." He added that this
increased the risk of another serious incident.
Other concerns of the US, Boyce pointed out, were the next president's ability to
address the rule of law, confusing regulations, the "uncompetitive" labor law and
declining infrastructure. "When the new government will be installed in October, the
world will be watching who is selected for key positions," he said.
Presidential candidate Gen. (ret) Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told the seminar that, if
elected, he would protect national sovereignty, promote an active foreign policy, and
ensure that Indonesia would be in the frontline in the fight against terrorism.
Analyst Drops Out
Lightweight political analyst Andi Mallarangeng generated publicity when resigning
from the United Democratic Nationhood Party (PPDK) central board, claiming he was
disappointed by the party's decision to support Wiranto's candidacy.
PPDK leader Ryaas Rasyid was more circumspect, defending his party's pragmatic
stance on Wiranto by saying that the Golkar Party candidate had the strongest
chance of winning the presidential election.
"We believe that only Megawati and Wiranto will contest the second round of the
presidential election on September 20. But since PPDK is committed to the reform
movement, it is impossible to support Megawati," Rasyid said Tuesday (11/5/04).
Muslim Militant Gets 7 Years
The East Jakarta District Court sentenced Muslim militant Imron Baihaki, alias
Mustofa, Wednesday (12/5/04) to seven years in prison for illegal possession of
firearms and ammunition.
Baihaki, who had been accused of leading a Jemaah Islamiyah cell covering parts of
Indonesia, Malaysia and the southern Philippines, was cleared on a charge of
terrorism, which carries a potential death penalty.
During his arrest last July police found several documents containing the schedules of
religious services in several churches, a list of Christian officials of the Indonesian
Democratic Party for Struggle (PDI-P), and details about a small Christian-based
party. They also confiscated an FN pistol and an M-16 automatic rifle.
Judges found the evidence insufficient to prove that the defendant had planned to kill
Christian priests and politicians.
More Campaign Strictures
The General Elections Commission (KPU) and the Indonesian Broadcasting
Commission (KPI) are to issue a joint decree on presidential campaigning via
electronic media, namely the 13 national television stations, including state-owned
TVRI.
A draft has apparently been mulled over by the KPU, the KPI and the Center for
Electoral Reform (Cetro) for almost two weeks.
The decree will regulate advertising by presidential candidates on television during the
one-month campaign period starting June 1.
Campaigning for the legislative election saw PDI-P spend around Rp 39 billion and
Golkar Rp 21 billion, on advertising, mostly on television ads, according to industry
sources.
"The decree will allow presidential candidates to advertise themselves on television for
longer than was permitted during the legislative election campaign period as long as it
does not exceed 20% of a TV station's daily airtime," KPI member Bimo Nugroho told
reporters Wednesday (12/5/04).
Besides advertising, the decree will prohibit candidates from buying special time on
television for their campaigns.
"We hope that the candidates will focus more on their programs, instead of just
promoting their names or symbols as happened in the legislative election campaign
period," Nugroho said.
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