Jakarta – Moh. Yogie S. M., minister of internal affairs and chairman of the LPU [Election Institute], issued Directive Number 7 of 1997 on 30 January 1997 concerning Election Campaign Rules as a follow-up to Government Regulation 74/1996 concerning Election Laws and Presidential Decree 99/1996 concerning Election Campaigns.

"These campaign rules are the first ones in the five times that we have had elections. Their goal is to prevent the election from leading to unnecessary excesses so that the campaign will run in a safe, orderly and smooth way," Walujo, LPU deputy general secretary, told reporters in Jakarta on Tuesday when he was explaining directive Number 7 of 1997 issued by the minister of the interior and chairman of the LPU.

The directive issued by the minister of the interior and chairman of the LPU also regulates campaign forms, themes and materials as well as their regions, timetables, levels, procedures, law and order and rest periods, as does Presidential Decree 99.

The election campaign will run from 27 April to 23 May 1997 and will take four forms: public assemblies, public meetings and radio and TV broadcasts. Then, there will be circulation to the public and/or placement in public places of posters, placards, circulars, slides, films, audio cassettes and recordings, video cassettes and recordings, banners, brochures, writings, drawings and the use of the print media and distribution by other means.

"Campaigns in the form of advertisements in the print and electronic mass media are forbidden," quoted Walujo from the Directive.

There will be six campaign regions: region one, Sumatra; region two, Java; region three, Bali, West Nusa Tenggara, East Nusa Tenggara and East Timor; region four, Kalimantan; region five, Sulawesi; and region six, Maluku and Irian Jaya.

Each Organization Participating in the Election (OPP) may campaign in at most two different campaign regions on the same day.

The campaign and regional division timetables and turn-taking will be determined jointly by an election organizer and executive board and by the OPP Central Executive Committee at a meeting of the Indonesian Election Committee (PPI).

"If agreement is not reached, the chairman of the PPI will determine campaign timetables and regions. Campaign timetables and regions will be set up 20 days before the campaign begins," read Walujo.

Public assemblies and public meetings in campaign regions will take place at no higher level than the regency or municipality second-level districts and no lower than the RW [ward]. The campaign will take place at facilities in the second-level districts determined jointly by the head of the second-level districts and the local head of police in that second-level district.

Campaign notification mentioned [sic], the OPP Executive Boards will campaign in accordance with their campaign level and will draw up integrated plans for the campaign, and the head of police will be notified in accordance with his level of authority; this notification will include the form, level, time and place of campaigns taking the form of public assemblies, public meetings, and circulation of material to the public with copies to the agencies concerned.

Notification of public assemblies or public meetings will be made no later than seven days before they are held, and the head of police, in accordance with his level of authority, will issue official identification papers for the OPP Executive Board's notification no later than three days before the public assembly or public meeting is held. Each OPP will campaign in accordance with the integrated plans conveyed to the election organizer and executive board and to the head of the local regional government, including the second-level district police.

Each OPP, in accordance with its level, will be responsible for law and order and safety during the campaign from the time the public assembles, heads toward, arrives at, carries out their activities and returns from the campaign.

Public assemblies and public meetings will be held between 9 am and 6 pm local time and they can take the form of a dialogue or a monologue.

Walujo added that the Head of the National Police Force has also issued Police Regulation Number 01/I/1997 dated 31 January 1997 concerning campaign identification papers and law and order.

OPPs campaigning via the RRI [Indonesian Radio] and TVRI [Indonesian Television] will provide copies of their scripts to the PPI and to the minister of information with a copy to the RRI and the TVRI. Campaign scripts for the RRI and the TVRI will be examined before broadcast by the Election Campaign Script Examination Committee of the PPI.

In response to questions about whether examining manuscripts means prior censorship, Walujo explained, "There isn't any censorship. The scripts are examined to see whether the contents are oriented toward the program, do not make problems for PANCASILA [Five Principles of the Nation], do not vilify officials and do not offend the other OPPs. Criticism must be constructive." When asked who would be on the script examination committee, Walujo said that it would include officials from the LPU, the Department of Internal Affairs, the Department of Information and other agencies concerned.

"That means they're all GOLKAR [Functional Groups Party]; can they be objective?" asked a reporter. "What is certain is that they're all intelligent people; they can be objective," he said.

He also mentioned that the dialogue and monologue campaign broadcast schedules of each OPP on the RRI and the TVRI would be regulated and determined by the chairman of the PPI together with the heads of the RRI and the TVRI. "Dialogues are limited to 30 participants and the names of the participants must be provided.

Each OPP will have seven dialogues and two monologues broadcast over RRI and TVRI. Further regulations about campaigning over RRI and TVRI will be made by the minister of information," added Walujo.

Further regulations for campaigning by posting and mounting posters and the like will be made at the lowest level by sub-regents/heads of sub-regencies in their respective areas who will determine the public places made available by the government and will regulate the procedures.