---------------------------------------------------------- FREE for JOIN Indonesia Daily News Online via EMAIL: go to: http://www.indo-news.com/subscribe.html - FREE - FREE - FREE - FREE - FREE - FREE - Please Visit Our Sponsor http://www.indo-news.com/cgi-bin/ads1 ++ Pemilu Online: http://www.indo-news.com/pemilu/ ++ ---------------------------------------------------------- International Herald Tribune, Paris, Tuesday, June 22, 1999 As Indonesia Waits, Much Has Already Been Achieved ---------------------------------------------------------------- By Andrew Thornley ---------------------------------------------------------------- JAKARTA - The counting of votes from Indonesia's June 7 parliamentary elections continues at an awkwardly slow pace. Much comment naturally concerns the extent to which the polls can be declared free and fair, and latest odds on who will become the country's next president. Less discussed is a significant aspect of these elections: the impressive steps taken to pave the way for a lasting process of political reform. This was the first time in Indonesia's history that extensive national, nonpartisan voter education campaigns were conducted. Such programs, carried out, for example, by Indonesia's National Elections Commission and by the People's Voter Education Network, provided voters with a constant stream of public service announcements and millions of posters, books and leaflets. As I traveled around the country for The Asia Foundation, which provided support to the People's Voter Education Network, it was clear that such educational programs are vital in explaining the democratic political process, helping people understand their rights and responsibilities, and providing information so that they can assess the competing parties and hold them accountable. For the 48 political parties themselves, these elections provided an opportunity for political expression that was actively suppressed in the past. From 1973 until last year, only three government-sanctioned parties were eligible to contest elections. This year there were new modes of political expression, including the first televised political debate between party leaders. The campaigns, while little more than party carnivals, provided an opportunity for unfettered expression of political allegiance. For the most part, the military made a positive contribution by assuming a remarkably low profile throughout the election process, in contrast to its support for the governing Golkar party in previous polls. Before these elections, voting was compulsory and administered by local authorities. Voters this time had the choice and responsibility to register themselves, which discouraged forced registration and intimidation. Election day was a national holiday, which removed the possibility of voter manipulation in the workplace or schools. Civil servants, previously obliged to vote for Golkar and get others to do so, were prohibited from declaring their party affiliation and were free to vote as they wished. The elections were run not by the government's Ministry of Home Affairs, as in the past, but by a newly appointed National Elections Commission. Its membership represented the interests of all parties involved. Often lost in the media melee accompanying former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and some 500 international election monitors was the fact that almost all election observers were from domestic monitoring organizations. Such organizations were banned in previous elections, although the Independent Election Monitoring Committee, known by its Indonesian initials as KIPP, had defied authorities and fielded observers for the 1997 elections. These new monitoring organizations have more than half a million young Indonesians who are now trained in the basic tenets of the electoral process and willing to participate directly in monitoring to check on electoral authorities. Of course, the elections did not proceed flawlessly. They were susceptible to technical irregularities given that more than 100 million Indonesians - 20 times the number that went to the polls in Cambodia's highly publicized elections in July - were voting at more than 300,000 polling stations under many regulations and procedures that were being tried for the first time. KIPP alone has recorded approximately 20,000 election-related irregularities, and that tally may rise as the counting of votes, where cheating is traditionally most likely to occur, continues. The fact that such irregularities are being exposed and investigated is part of the process of political reform, one that has built upon the growing dynamism and vigor of Indonesian civil society during the past few years. How this process continues depends on continued pressure from the international community and continued commitment to reform within Indonesia. With a population of more than 200 million, approximately 90 percent of whom are Muslim, Indonesia represents potentially not only one of the largest democracies in the world but also the largest predominantly Muslim country to experience a democratic transition. The seeds of this transition were sown long before election day, and should continue to bear fruit long after the final returns are made known. ----------------------------------------------------------------- The writer is the Jakarta-based election project officer for The Asia Foundation, a private U.S. aid group. He contributed this personal comment to the International Herald Tribune. ----------------------------------------------------------------- ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Didistribusikan tgl. 25 Jun 1999 jam 07:07:55 GMT+1 oleh: Indonesia Daily News Online <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://www.Indo-News.com/ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
