Monitoring teams focus on education voters<\/p>\n
Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Most monitoring teams appear to have focused their programs on
\neducating voters and getting them to the polls for the April 5
\nlegislative election, instead of putting their weight behind the
\n22-day campaign period.<\/p>\n
There are 28 monitoring teams registered with the General
\nElections Commission, of which 23 are local and five are foreign.<\/p>\n
The first five days of the campaign period, during which many
\nmonitoring teams were late or failed to show up at indoor
\ncampaigns, seem to indicate this shift in focus.<\/p>\n
For example, Friday's campaign by the Crescent Star Party
\n(PBB) at the Rawamangun Youth Center, East Jakarta, was attended
\nby only two activists from the Independent Election Monitoring
\nCommittee, while no activists from monitoring teams were seen
\nduring Monday's National Mandate Party (PAN) campaign at the
\nJatinegara Youth Center, also in East Jakarta.<\/p>\n
"I don't see anybody from the monitoring team. They also came
\nlate yesterday when the United Development Party (PPP) held its
\ncampaign in this building," said a Jatinegara district official
\non the sidelines of PAN's campaign.<\/p>\n
Chairman of the Election Monitoring Committee for the Poor
\nMuhammad Lukman acknowledged that its monitoring team was placing
\nmore priority on election day than on the campaigns.<\/p>\n
"We are targeting poor people in the rural as well as urban
\nareas, educating them on how to exercise their voting rights.
\nCurrently, we are teaching this marginalized section how to vote,
\nbecause many of them are as yet unfamiliar with the procedures,"
\nhe told The Jakarta Post.<\/p>\n
He added that approximately 60 million poor voters were
\nunaware of the importance of their rights in relation to
\ndetermining the fate of the nation and their own future.<\/p>\n
Another registered monitoring team, the Independent Workers
\nElection Committee is focusing on how to prevent workers from
\nbeing manipulated by their employers during the election.<\/p>\n
"We don't really care about the campaign period. What we are
\ndoing now is trying to prevent candidates from the business
\nsector from forcing their workers to vote for them," said
\ncommittee secretary-general Idrus.<\/p>\n
He said many businesspeople were either candidates for the
\nHouse of Representatives or the Regional Representatives Council.<\/p>\n
"We are afraid that such people will use their power as
\nemployers to force their workers to vote for them. We believe
\nthese workers must have the independence to vote for whomever
\nthey like," he added.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/monitoring-teams-focus-on-education-voters-1447893297",
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