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Armed forces say

no to unofficial

poll watchdog

JAKARTA: Indonesia's army chief said the military would not recognise an independent election watchdog established last month by activists, the official Antara news agency reported on Friday.

"There is no need to recognise any other watchdog except the one already known in our state's system. We don't want to create disorder, do we?" armed forces commander General Feisal Tanjung told reporters on Thursday.

Tanjung's statement came less than a week after the army chief of staff, Raden Hartono, said he had seen no problems in the activities of the watchdog, whose creation raised eyebrows among government officials.

The Independent Election Monitoring Committee (KIPP) was established on March 15 by about 50 prominent intellectuals, lawyers, activists and journalists as a conduit for reporting malpractices in the run up to the 1997 general elections.

Antara has said many government and military officials have voiced strong reservations about the poll watchdog. It said several provincial governors had denounced the formation of the group in their regions.-Reuter