Fwd: IN: Participation in Madura re-vote (StraitsTimes)
Alex G Bardsley
X-URL: http://straitstimes.asia1.com/pages/stsea2.html
[1][LINK] JUN 5 1997
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Indonesians stay away from re-vote in Madura
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SAMPANG (Indonesia) -- Indonesia held an unprecedented re-vote on
Madura island yesterday following violence in last week's general
election, but many in the area appeared to have stayed away from
the polls.
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The re-vote of more than 40,000 voters was held in Sampang district
on the island off East Java yesterday amid tight security.
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It was ordered after supporters of the Muslim-backed United
Development Party (PPP) went on a rampage after the May 29 election
and burned ballot boxes on reports that the ruling Golkar party was
sweeping the polls.
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At the number six booth in Rongtengah, an area of Sampang with a
number of Islamic schools, the head of the booth, Mr Fattah, said
there were 531 registered voters, of whom 506 voted last week.
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But yesterday, the only voters were the eight officials manning the
booth.
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"I don't know why they didn't come. The eight votes were only those
of the polling station officials and witnesses," he told Reuters.
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Other polling stations had more voters, but the overall turnout
appeared to be down sharply. The official results were to be
released in Surabaya today. Golkar, in power for most of President
Suharto's rule, swept last week's poll with more than 74 per cent
of the vote. The PPP took just under 23 per cent and the fragmented
Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI), the only other party entitled to
contest the polls, won 3 per cent.
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The government imposed tight military and police security on Madura
to prevent a recurrence of last week's rioting, in which offices,
homes, shops and a church were burned or damaged and polling boxes
from Sampang destroyed.
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East Java military commander Major-General Imam Utomo had issued a
shoot-on-the-spot order in case of further violence, Antara
reported.
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In Jakarta, the PPP and the PDI said they had witnessed a number of
irregularities in the election in which nearly 90 per cent of the
125 million eligible voters cast their ballots.
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The 27-day campaign also saw the worst political violence in three
decades, primarily between supporters of the PPP and Golkar.
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Financial markets were carefully monitoring the actions of the PPP,
which was due to meet today to decide whether to accept the result,
for fear of further violence.
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Sampang, a sleepy coastal town of about 100,000 people, was quiet
yesterday 12under heavy security. The central market and many shops
were closed as shopkeepers said they feared more violence.
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Officials originally said the re-vote, unprecedented in Indonesia's
history, would be held at 86 polling stations. But the head of the
Sampang regency, Mr Fadhilah Budiono, said 21 of the vote boxes
believed destroyed had been found.
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The PPP had said it would not supply witnesses for yesterday's
re-vote, but stopped short of calling for an illegal boycott.
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It appeared that polling booth officers were hauling in passers-by
to act as witnesses to make up the numbers. -- Reuter.
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[5][LINK] Better working skills for Indonesians=20
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Copyright =A9 1997 Singapore Press Holdings Ltd. All rights reserved.
Joyce Brabner
Anyone willing and able to make informed comments about non-traditional art
in Cambodia during the pre-war years, esp. abstract paintings, please e-mail
me. The Cambodian Artists Assistance Project is now building a collection
of Cambodian Modernism to be posted in our On-Line Gallery and we would
like people who saw abstract painting in Cambodia before the war years to
give us some feedback.
Joyce Brabner for CAAP