Deddy Sinaga, Jakarta – The 2004 General Election observers from European Union (EU) countries have said that they considered the election went well and peacefully despite some weaknesses during the election, including the work performance of General Election Commission (KPU).
"However, the election process was not interrupted," said Glyn Ford, the chairman of EU election observers, at a press conference held in Jakarta on Thursday (8/4).
Ford said that substantial progress had been made in the 2004 election, compared to the 1999 and the previous elections, especially as regards political campaigning, which went off quite peacefully this year.
However, according to him, the general public seemed to lose interest in the election campaigns. It turned out that political speeches from those campaigning had discouraged members of the public because of the lack of focus on populist issues and no explanation of how parties would achieve their goals. "As a result, voters trusted the campaigning less and less," said Ford.
According to the EU observers, who have been in Indonesia since February, there were incidences of money politics during the election. However, the observers said they did not consider this practice would have any meaningful impact on the final voting tally.
The observers also said they considered that the KPU had been successful in maintaining its neutrality in terms of political parties. This might be due to the change of the commission members since the formation in 1999.
However, the KPU is still considered of not being properly prepared as regards the distribution of election logistic materials. Ford said that logistic arrangements were very centralized and not well-prepared. According to him, the KPU should have taken preliminary action by replacing all printing agencies that failed to meet the deadline.
Ford added that he had sent 230 EU observers all over Indonesia, including to the Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam (NAD) and Papua provinces.
According to him, the election in these two conflict areas went ahead quite peacefully. However, he regretted the time limit set by the Aceh martial law authority on the observers' working hours, from 8am to 6pm. As a result, they could not monitor the ballot counting process. "Under these conditions, it is unlikely we will be able to make any decision on the legality and holding of the election in the province," said Ford.
EU observers urged the KPU to form clear rules for the presidential and vice presidential election on July 5.
Election Monitoring Committee chairman Komaruddin Hidayat said that the assistance of the foreign observers to help the election monitoring was quite good. He added that the monitoring results indicated that the election went ahead safely and had proven the freedom felt by the people in expressing their points of view.
Hidayat also said that some weaknesses had occurred in the election process, mostly because of logistics problems. However, he considered that the KPU had having worked hard to make this year's election as a success.
"This means that the people now have their sovereignty. If top political figures do not understand this, they will lose. The people have now understood that they are now the subject in the election, not an object like in the previous elections. This must be understood and respected by political figures," Hidayat stated.