Belo due to vote in Washington<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Dili Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo is
\nexpected to vote at the embassy in Washington D.C. in tomorrow's
\ngeneral election.<\/p>\n
Belo will be in Washington D.C. for several days from May 29,
\nAntara quoted an embassy source as saying yesterday. Few details
\non the bishop's trip to the United States are available except
\nthat he arrived there last week for a meeting of the U.S.
\nBishops' Conference.<\/p>\n
Belo had been in Portugal, leading a pilgrimage of the
\nSalesian Order, to which he belongs, to the Our Lady of Fatima
\nShrine. The pilgrimage commemorated the 80th anniversary of the
\nfirst apparition of the Virgin Mary to three children there on
\nMay 13.<\/p>\n
The embassy source also said East Timorese anti-integration
\nleader Ramos Horta had reportedly met United Nations Secretary-
\nGeneral Kofi Annan and UN envoy for East Timor Jamsheed Marker at
\nthe UN Headquarters in New York last Thursday.<\/p>\n
Neither the Indonesian consulate office in New York or the
\nembassy could say if Bishop Belo and Horta would meet.<\/p>\n
The two missions said that Belo, being a good Indonesian
\ncitizen, was supposed to notify them of his presence in the U.S.,
\nAntara reported. Belo and Horta are cowinners of the 1996 Nobel
\nPeace Prize.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, preparations for the general election continued
\nacross the country yesterday.<\/p>\n
The elections committee in East Timor would use helicopters to
\nfetch ballot boxes from remote areas, the committee's secretary,
\nSjamsu Anwar, said in Dili. The local military would provide the
\nair transportation for Oassu subdistrict in Viqueque, Atauro
\nsubdistrict in Ambeno regency and other areas.<\/p>\n
In Bandung, West Java, residents are reportedly helping build
\nlocal polling booths. The provincial administration's spokesman,
\nDachlan Hidayat, said 54,887 polling stations would be set up in
\nthe province's 25 regencies.<\/p>\n
The province has 25,233,587 registered voters and a population
\nof 40,323,798. Bogor regency has the most voters in the province
\nwith 2,453,460 people due to cast ballots at 4,472 polling
\nstations.<\/p>\n
In the 1992 election, the province had 20,998,299 voters.<\/p>\n
From Bandar Lampung, Lampung, came a report that the isolated
\nPasaran-Kota Island in West Telukbetung subdistrict had set up a
\npolling booth for its 524 voters. The island has a population of
\n1,540.<\/p>\n
The polling station was erected in the SDN 3 elementary
\nschool's yard, near the local fish drying area.<\/p>\n
\"This is the most safest place from the waves,\" Antara quoted
\na local as saying. Most inhabitants are fishermen.<\/p>\n
Lampung province has 6.8 million people and 3,378,739
\nregistered voters; 9,048 polling stations will be erected for
\nthem in 2,014 villages.<\/p>\n
Prone<\/p>\n
Madura Police Chief Col. H.S. Adna Isa said in Sampang, East
\nJava, that at least 20 subdistricts in Madura were susceptible to
\nunrest.<\/p>\n
Security would be tight around polling stations in Sumenep,
\nPamekasan, Sampang, Bangkalan and other areas, Isa said. In
\nSampang in 1993, security personnel and farmers clashed over a
\nland appropriation case which led to several deaths.<\/p>\n
In Jakarta, City Police Chief Maj. Gen. Hamami Nata gave
\nassurances yesterday that no polling booths in his jurisdiction
\nwere considered \"prone to unrest.\" The areas he mentioned were
\nJakarta, and the surrounding cities of Depok, Tangerang and
\nBekasi.<\/p>\n
\"The security personnel are ready to safeguard all of the
\npublic activities, including casting their votes (tomorrow),\" he
\nwas quoted by city police spokesman Lt. Col. Edward Aritonang as
\nsaying yesterday.<\/p>\n
A total of 12,000 police personnel will be deployed to
\nsafeguard 21,419 polling booths in the Greater Jakarta area.<\/p>\n
The South Sumatra elections committee's secretary, Col. H.
\nMukhtar, said the province's 10,956 ballot boxes would be marked
\nwith a secret code to prevent manipulation.<\/p>\n
In South Sumatra's capital of Palembang yesterday, Mukhtar
\nsaid 4,147,941 of the province's 6,853,066 people were registered
\nto vote.<\/p>\n
Antara reported from Banda Aceh, Aceh, that 7,352 polling
\nbooths had been erected for 2,204,994 voters in that province.
\nNorth Aceh has the most voters with 530,213 people, followed by
\nEast Aceh with 370,849.<\/p>\n
The streets of Riau's capital of Pekanbaru are free of
\ncampaign paraphernalia, but are bustling with election
\npreparations. The province has 6,918 polling stations, some on
\nits remotest islands.<\/p>\n
In Ujungpandang, South Sulawesi, 19,089 resettlers will
\nreportedly vote in the election, including 1,500 families which
\nresettled there this year. The voters lived in 28 resettlement
\ncamps in four regencies, Antara reported.<\/p>\n
Overseas<\/p>\n
Indonesians living abroad will also cast votes tomorrow. In
\nBonn, Germany, 3,000 of the 3,800 Indonesians living there are
\nregistered to vote. About 300 are expected to vote at the
\nembassy, and the rest by mail.<\/p>\n
About 2,700 Indonesians reside in Hamburg, Bremen and
\nSchleswigh Holstein (Kiel). About 2,300 of them are eligible to
\nvote, but only 1,608 have registered; the rest have changed
\naddress or left the country. About 700 Indonesians are
\nregistered to vote in Berlin.<\/p>\n
In Moscow, 116 Indonesians are expected to vote. In Rome, 358
\nIndonesians are expected to vote. In Beijing, 296 people are
\nregistered to vote. (swe\/33\/24)<\/p>",
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