Indonesian elections. ACEH Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit source - jclancy@peg.apc.org 5/20/99 INDONESIAN ELECTIONS: Aceh offered vote on its future By LINDSAY MURDOCH, Herald Correspondent in Jakarta A key Opposition leader yesterday backed a referendum for Aceh as official campaigning started for Indonesia's first multi-party elections in 44 years. Mr Abdurrahman Wahid, the leader of the National Awakening Party, told a rally in the troubled province he would push to give Acehnese a say in their own future and guarantee them a greater share of local revenues if he wins power in the June 7 polls. Mr Wahid, who is popularly known as Gus Dur, said he would also move to stop clashes between troops and activists demanding independence. He criticised the sending to the resource-rich province of hundreds of soldiers from other areas of Indonesia, which he said only increased tensions. Two weeks ago up to 65 people, including women and children, were killed when security forces opened fire at a separatist rally. President B.J. Habibie apologised to the people of Aceh earlier this year for past atrocities committed by the armed forces, but ruled out a referendum. Mr Wahid, 59, is one of three opposition leaders in a united front aimed at blocking the election of Dr Habibie, the hand-picked successor of former president Soeharto, who ruled Indonesia for 32 years until he was forced from power amid bloodshed last May. But Mr Wahid's call for the referendum risks upsetting one of the other opposition leaders, Ms Megawati Sukarnoputri, a nationalist who fears the breaking up of the country if too much power is given to the provinces. Ms Megawati, the daughter of Indonesia's first president Sukarno, opposes East Timor becoming independent, a move Dr Habibie has said he would allow if Timorese reject an offer of autonomy at an August ballot. As millions of people took part in colourful rallies across Indonesia on the first official day of campaigning, the top electoral officer, Mr Rudini, warned the armed forces, public servants and police to remain neutral during the campaign to protect "the unity of the country". But he said he was confident the security forces would not interfere in the polling at 250,000 voting stations. "Eligible voters will have the opportunity to vote in a free and confidential manner, that his or her vote is protected," he said. The armed forces chief, General Wiranto, has repeatedly promised that his troops would remain neutral as hundreds of thousands of police, soldiers and civilian militias have mobilised across the vast archipelago amid fears of communal violence that has already killed hundreds of people this year. Mr Rudini, a former Soeharto Cabinet minister, plans to visit far- flung provinces in the next few days to promote clean and fair elections. Analysts say it will be difficult for polling to go ahead in East Timor, Irian Jaya and Aceh because of recent violence. Even Golkar, tainted by its links to the discredited Soeharto regime, concedes no party will win enough votes to be able to rule in its own right, ensuring the formation of a coalition. Mr Rudini told reporters in Jakarta that if any party committed fraud it would face the wrath of the other 47 registered parties. "We are in the one boat. The boat of the nation," he said. "One party should not hate other parties." ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytpac-05.23.99-01:32:47-8209