INDONESIA: PREPARATIONS BEGIN IN INDONESIA ON THE EVE OF THE COUNTRY'S HISTORIC ELECTIONS
Record ID:
450957
INDONESIA: PREPARATIONS BEGIN IN INDONESIA ON THE EVE OF THE COUNTRY'S HISTORIC ELECTIONS
- Title: INDONESIA: PREPARATIONS BEGIN IN INDONESIA ON THE EVE OF THE COUNTRY'S HISTORIC ELECTIONS
- Date: 6th June 1999
- Summary: JAKARTA, INDONESIA (JUNE 6, 1999) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. LV/SV STREET SCENES IN JAKARTA (2 SHOTS) 0.09 2. SLV/SV WORKERS SETTING UP A POLLING STATION (3 SHOTS) 0.22 3. SV/SLV POLLING STATION, WORKERS PREPARING AT POLLING STATION (3 SHOTS) 0.37 4. SLV/CU BALLOT BOXES (4 SHOTS) 0.57 5. SV ELECTION WORKERS BEING BRIEFED 1.00 JAKARTA, INDONESIA (JUNE 6, 1999) (PALACE TV - ACCESS ALL) 6. SV INDONESIAN PRESIDENT B.J. HABIBIE MEETING FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT JIMMY CARTER 1.06 7. SV CARTER WITH HIS WIFE ROSALYN CARTER MEETING HABIBIE 1.19 JAKARTA, INDONESIA (JUNE 6, 1999) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 8. SV POLICE ON DUTY ON STREET 1.23 9. MCU CHIEF EUROPEAN UNION MONITOR JOHN MORGAN SAYING "What they found so far almost uniformly are minor incidents some attempts to persuasion, and one or two nasty incidents in Aceh in particular." 1.44 10. CU OF MORGAN'S HANDS 1.48 11. MCU (English) CHIEF E.U. MONITOR JOHN MORGAN SAYING "Overall, by and large, we have had completely free access to all parts of the campaign as we will have to polling booths and counting, and the transfer of votes. We appreciate that the promise has been kept by the authorities." 2.08 ROAD NORTH OF LHOKSEUMAWE, ACEH, INDONESIA (JUNE 5, 1999) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 12. SV PEOPLE WALKING IN FRONT OF BURNT BUS 2.11 13. SV MAN POINTING UNDER BURNING BUS 2.15 14. SV FRONT VIEW OF BURNT BUS 2.19 15. CU FLAMES UNDER BUS 2.24 16. SV INTERIOR OF BURNT BUS 2.28 17. SV MAN EXAMINING ENGINE OF BURNT BUS 2.32 18. SV MEN INSPECTING INSIDE OF BURNT BUS 2.37 19. SLV CROWD STANDING BY NEW BUS 2.41 LHOKSEUMAWE, ACEH, INDONESIA (JUNE 5, 1999) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 20. LV LHOKSEUMAWE 2.44 21. LV TWO SOLDIERS WALKING 2.46 23. SLV SOLDIERS SITTING WITH BACKPACKS 2.50 DILI, EAST TIMOR, INDONESIA (JUNE 6, 1999) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 24. GV SHOT OF DILI 3.01 25. SV PEOPLE WALKING ALONG ROAD 3.07 26. MCU (English) MAN SAYING "I don't think I'm going to go tomorrow and vote, I'm waiting for the referendum, if the majority of the Timorese choose for autonomy, then next election I'll go, but I don't think I'm going" 3.30 27. MCU FAMILIES WITH CHILDREN 3.34 28. SLV EXTERIOR MARKET/SV PEOPLE IN MARKET (2 SHOTS) 3.44 29. MCU (Tetum) WOMAN SAYING "It's not our vote" 3.49 30. MCU (Tetum) MAN SAYING "I'm going to vote, because someone told me to" 4.00 31. MCU (Tetum) TWO WOMEN SAYING "We're going to vote for Megawati" 4.14 32. SV BANNERS 4.15 33. SV/SLV BALLOT BOXES BEING BROUGHT IN (2 SHOTS) 4.32 34. CU PADLOCK ON BOX 4.39 35. SV/CU BALLOT LISTS (2 SHOTS) 4.54 JAKARTA, INDONESIA (JUNE 5, 1999) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 36. SV OF INTERVIEW 5.00 37. MCU (Bahasa Indonesia) MEGAWATI SUKARNOPUTRI, OPPOSITION LEADER, SAYING: "In my opinion, I think we will get at the minimum 40 percent of the total votes - that is if the election is honest and just." 5.20 JAKARTA, INDONESIA (JUNE 3, 1999) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 38. SV/LV OF INDONESIAN DEMOCRATIC PARTY-STRUGGLE (PDI-P) RALLY IN CENTRAL JAKARTA, VARIOUS OF MEGAWATI SUKARNOPUTRI AT RALLY, ON STAGE (5 SHOTS) 5.52 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 21st June 1999 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: JAKARTA; LHOKSEUMAWE, ACEH; DILI, EAST TIMOR, INDONESIA
- Country: Indonesia
- Reuters ID: LVA7VSJZ9RJFZ2NTAPXN6URSMY4P
- Story Text: Preparations have begun in Indonesia on the eve of the
country's historic elections.
International observers have expressed their confidence
that Indonesia's first democratic poll in more than forty
years will be free and fair, despite some incidents of
violence and rising tension in Aceh and East Timor.
Preparations were underway in Indonesia on Sunday (June
6) on the eve of historic national elections.
Polling stations were set up, ballot boxes distributed
and election workers briefed as the nation got ready.
Monday's poll will be the first democratic election in
Indonesia since 1955 and the first since the fall of long-time
President Suharto amid bloody violence in May last year.
It comes during a crippling economic crisis and
widespread communal unrest which has killed thousands in the
past two years.
Former U.S.President Jimmy Carter is in Indonesia
heading a team of election observers.He described the
election campaign as a glorious demonstration by the
Indonesian people that they are not only committed to
democracy and freedom but also committed to having a peaceful
election.
The former U.S.leader said despite the relatively small
number of foreign observers, the presence of some 300,000
domestic observers should ensure any likelihood of rigging the
vote would be eliminated.
On Sunday (June 6), Carter held talks with Indonesian
president B.J.Habibie to discuss the elections.
The chief of the European Union monitoring delegation,
John Morgan, said he was optimistic that the EU monitors would
be able to do their work freely.
"Overall, by and large, we have had completely free
access to all parts of the campaign as we will have to polling
booths and counting, and the transfer of votes.We appreciate
that the promise has been kept by the authorities", Morgan
said on Sunday (June 6) although he did refer to some areas of
persistent unrest.Most of Indonesia has been calm in the run
up to Monday's election, but violence has flared once again in
the troubled province of Aceh.
On Saturday (June 5) around 12 gunmen burned four buses
in an area where calls for a boycott of the poll have been
strong.
There were no injuries as the gunmen ordered all the
passengers off the buses first.The incident occurred just
north of Lhokseumawe, 1,600 km (1,000 miles) northwest of
Jakarta, a centre of resistance to central rule.
The area around Lhokseumawe has seen a series of clashes
in recent weeks which the military has blamed on the
separatist Free Aceh movement.
Last month the military said six people were killed in
separate incidents by the rebels, who want the resource-rich
and fiercely Islamic province to be an independent state.
Calls for a boycott of Monday's general election have
been strong in Aceh.Registration rates for the province are
the second lowest in Indonesia, with only East Timor showing a
lower rate.
The military remains on high alert throughout Aceh -
while thousands of civilains continue to flee the violence.
On Sunday (June 6), the streets of Lhokseumawe were
largely deserted as preparations went ahead as scheduled for
the vote, with voter booths being set up and ballot boxes
distributed to voting centres.
Election preparations are also being finalised in the
territory of East Timor amid accusations that pro-Jakarta
loyalists are bullying people into voting in the general
election.
A low turnout would be seen as a strong expression of
support for independence ahead of a separate, U.N.-supervised
ballot on August 8.
East Timor has the lowest electoral registration level
of any of Indonesia's 27 provinces, at 43.9 percent of
estimated eligible voters.Most provinces have registered more
than 80 percent of eligible voters.
Outside a church in Dili, one man said he would not be
voting because he was waiting for the referendum on August 8.
The view was echoed in the local market - one woman
saying simply "It's not our vote", while another admitted he
was only voting because he'd been told to.
Among those who said they would vote, the Indonesian
Democratic Party-Struggle (PDI-P) seems to have the most
support.The leader of the PDI-P, Megawati Sukarnoputri, has
said she opposes independence for the province but would
respect the outcome of the U.N.-organised vote.
Despite the expected poor turnout, preparations were in
full swing on Sunday in Dili for Monday's vote, with ballot
boxes and ballot lists being moved into polling centres.
The daughter of Indonesia's charismatic founding
father Sukarno said in an interview on Saturday (June 5) that
in the absence of electoral fraud, her Indonesian Democratic
Party-Struggle (PDI-P) would win at least 40 percent of votes
in the first truly democratic parliamentary ballot since 1955.
"In my opinion, I think we will get at the minimum 40
percent of the total votes - that is if the election is honest
and just."
Megawati added that it was too early to talk about
coalition governments even though none of the 48 parties
contesting the poll is expected to win a majority.
The party that wins most votes is expected to have the
inside running to choose a president in November to replace
the widely disliked B.J.Habibie, a protégé of former
strongman Suharto.
Some analysts, their eye on a Megawati presidency, have
also questioned her ability to lead Indonesia out of crisis
and calm separatist tendencies in far-flung corners of the
archipelago.
Indeed, since Suharto was driven from office in disgrace
last year Megawati has said little about her vision for the
world's fourth most populous nation as it heads into the 21st
century.
But Megawati scoffed at the criticism, saying the most
important criteria was that Indonesia's 200 million people
trusted their leader and that the president had a good team.
The popularity of the Sukarno name and the expectation
that Megawati will stick up for the "orang kecil", or little
people, has roused hundreds of thousands of faithful, filling
streets, stadiums and fields with a sea of red -- the colour
of her
party.
Megawati repeatedly said the key problem with Indonesia
-- whether for the country's masses or foreign investors --
was a lack of confidence in the current government.
Megawati alluded to problems if the election was not
free and fair, but she did not elaborate.
Many analysts have predicted an eruption of violence if
the ruling Golkar party, the despised political vehicle of
Suharto, wins a big slab of votes.
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