Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – With a glut of new parties set up ahead of next year's general election, disputes are breaking out over the right to use some of the most popular Indonesian signs and symbols.
Familiar icons such as the wild bull, used by the Indonesian Democratic Party – Struggle (PDI-P), or the crescent star which represents The Crescent Star Party, are in huge demand. Logos are critical to party fortunes, both during the campaign and voting phases.
After the fall of President Suharto in 1988, the number of new parties increased sharply. Logos, therefore, became a key differentiating factor among the political parties.
On the ballot paper, the symbols are used, often because the parties have names that are too long.
Currently, 237 political parties have registered at the Justice and Human Rights Ministry for the forthcoming election, of which 137 have been recently established.
Many of them, though, are minor parties which would not qualify for the 2004 election. In 1999, only 48 out of the hundreds of parties registered were allowed to participate.
Even then, several ended up using similar logos with minor variations in colour or the thickness of the lines. During the last election, there were reports that some voters had voted for the wrong parties, because of the similarity in the logos.
The symbols of the Indonesian Nationalist Party (PNI) Massa Marhaenis and the PNI Front Marhaenis, for instance, were nearly identical.
In the next elections, at least nine parties want to be represented by a logo featuring a wild bull inside a triangle against a red background. Among them, the Bung Karno Nationalist Party (PNBK) – the party inspired by the ideology of the late founding president Sukarno.
Likewise, during the 1999 elections the crescent star was common in the logos of The Crescent Star Party, The United Indonesian Islamic Party and the United Indonesian Islamic Party 1905. Now four other new parties wish to use the crescent star logo.
But a newly issued Law on Political Party now prohibits parties from using logos that are the same or similar to another party's.
The director for the State Administration in the Justice and Human Rights Ministry, Mr Ramly Hutabarat, told The Straits Times: "We are going to verify the data given by the parties later this month to see whether they comply with this law. The party which had registered the logo first will be entitled to it," he said.
Analysts said the parties try to use familiar logos to cash in on the popularity of other parties. Often they have little to offer themselves.
Mr Hamid Awaluddin of the General Election Committee said: "The parties want to have the right insignias that traditionally symbolise their political affiliation to make up for their lack in substance."