Activists join election race
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Parties recruiting rights advocates in hope to win
It appears that celebrities and the same old politicians will still dominate Indonesia’s House of Representatives, though several parties are giving activists a chance to run in the 2014 race.
Former leader of the People’s Democratic Party (PRD) Faisol Riza, who was kidnapped during the upheavals of May 1998, will be among the rights activists who will compete in the 2014 legislative election if the General Elections Commission (KPU) verifies their eligibility.
Faisol told The Jakarta Post yesterday that he had decided to join the Islamic-based National Awakening Party (PKB) in order to boost efforts to search for the whereabouts of missing fellow activists.
“I hope I can speed up the search for my fellow activists who are still missing. I’m aiming to promote policies that will make this possible as well as other policies that will further uphold human rights in this country,” Faisol said at KPU headquarters on Monday.
Faisol is not alone. Other 1998 activists have followed suit, including Aan Rusdianto from the Families of Missing Persons Association (IKOHI), who was nominated by the Great Indonesia Movement (Gerindra) Party; and Miksil Mina Munir from the City Forum (Forkot), who is registered with the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P).
Other than activists from the 1998 movement, who are credited with helping to overthrow former president Suharto, other rights defenders have also been recruited to run in the election next April.
They include Agung Putri, a former member of the Institute for Policy Research and Advocacy (Elsam) and Yulianti Ratnaningsih, former member of the Surabaya-based Pro-Democracy Women’s Group (KPPD). They will run on PDI-P tickets.
“These activists will help the party to reach out to the people and promote their rights through more public policies that the PDI-P will fight for in the House,” PDI-P secretary-general Tjahjo Kumolo said after handing the list of the party’s 560 potential legislative candidates to the KPU on Monday.
PDI-P is the party that has recruited most rights activists in addition to several incumbents from the same background, such as Budiman Sudjatmiko, who founded the PRD in 1996 and led street demonstrations in Jakarta during the events of 1998. Budiman is currently a member of the House’s Commission II overseeing domestic governance.
