The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) has denied pressuring 274,000 employees of state plantation company PT Perkebunan Nusantara (PTPN) XII to vote for President Megawati Sukarnoputri and running mate Hasyim Muzadi in the July 5 presidential election.
"What occurred there was not intimidation but socialization carried out by the company, but not on the instructions of the Mega-Hasyim campaign team. It was [the company's] own initiative," Sirmadji, the head of Megawati's campaign team in East Java, was quoted as saying Tuesday (20/7/04) by state news agency Antara.
His denial comes after Golkar Party on Monday claimed the PTPN XII workers were intimidated into voting for Megawati in the first round of the presidential election.
"We have reported the findings to the provincial office of the General Elections Commission [KPU] and the Election Supervisory Committee [Panwaslu]. We have asked for a revote or the exclusion of the votes cast in the polling booths set up by the company in the districts of Banyuwangi, Jember, Situbondo, Bondowoso, Lumajang, Malang, Ngawi, Blitar, and Kediri," said local Golkar official Choirul Anam.
Sirmadji insisted that Megawati and Muzadi had "always played according to the rules", but he said PDI-P would not object if KPU or Panwaslu decides to hold a revote or annuls the votes.
Asked whether PDI-P official Laksamana Sukardi, who is also state enterprises minister, had ordered the workers be encouraged to vote for Megawati, he said the question should be addressed to the minister.
Pesantren revote
Golkar has also been accused of unethical practices in the July 5 election, most glaringly in West Java province, where more than 13,000 people were put on military trucks and driven an Islamic boarding school (pesantren) to vote for the party's presidential candidate, former military chief Wiranto.
The West Java chapter of KPU on Monday announced a revote would be held at the Al Zaytun Pesantren in Indramayu district on July 25. In the April 5 general election, only 14,310 people voted at the school led by A.S. Panji Gumilang. The number of voters soared to 24,825 in the first round of the presidential election.
"The repeat ballot will be a chance to see whether there were really 24,825 voters at the school," deputy chairman of the West Java KPU, Memet Akhmad Hakim, was quoted as saying by Antara. Almost 99% of the votes cast at the pesantren complex's 83 polling stations were for Wiranto.
The Indonesian Defense Forces recently discharged a military officer for his alleged involvement in the deployment of 21 military vehicles that carried the extra voters to the school.
Vote tally
By late Tuesday the KPU had tallied about 87% of an estimated 122 million votes cast nationwide in the first round of the presidential election.
Of 106,453,927 votes counted, Democrat Party leader Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has 33.58% (35,745,182), followed by Megawati with 26.29% (27,983,836). Wiranto is in third place with 22.21% (23,645,481), followed by National Mandate Party leader Amien Rais with 14.87% (15,826,418) and Vice President Hamzah Haz of the United Development Party with 3.06% (3,253,010).
As none of the candidates won a clear majority, Yudhoyono and Megawati will go head to head in a September 20 run-off election.