Overseas voters direct votes to PDI Perjuangan<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI
\nPerjuangan) came out tops in votes cast by expatriate Indonesians
\nin several cities abroad.<\/p>\n
Thousands of Indonesians living in Kuala Lumpur and Malaysia's
\nother major cities, as well as Manila, Singapore, Tokyo and
\nBerlin voted for the opposition party, which is led by Megawati
\nSoekarnoputri.<\/p>\n
Ruling Golkar salvaged some pride with the lion's share of the
\nvote in Cairo and Dakar, Senegal, but the Crescent Star Party
\n(PBB) was the favored pick in Jordan.<\/p>\n
In Manila and the second largest Philippine city of Davao, PDI
\nPerjuangan collected 508 of 947 valid votes to end Golkar's past
\nwinning streak. The ruling party was a distant second this time
\naround with 171 votes, followed by the National Mandate Party
\n(PAN) with 136.<\/p>\n
Rumors circulated among Indonesians, mostly students, in the
\ncountry that Indonesian Ambassador to the Philippines Abu Hartono
\npersuaded his staff to vote for Golkar, Indonesian student Fritz
\nPangemanan told The Jakarta Post. Abu denied the allegation,
\nsaying he instead pushed for democracy in the wake of the reform
\nmovement underway on home soil.<\/p>\n
From Kuala Lumpur, Antara reported that PDI Perjuangan
\ndominated the polls in the Malaysian capital, Johor Baru and
\nPenang. Until the tallying of the vote concluded at 11 a.m. local
\ntime, Megawati's party received 8,250 votes, followed by Golkar
\nwith 4,885 and the National Awakening Party (PKB) with 4,080.<\/p>\n
Vote counting in other polling stations across Malaysia is
\nstill under way, but low voter turnout was widely expected to
\noccur due to technical problems. Many Indonesians were not
\nallowed to take a day off from work or lived far from designated
\npolling stations.<\/p>\n
Only 17,000 of the 230,000 eligible Indonesian voters living
\nin Kuala Lumpur cast their ballots on Monday.<\/p>\n
Underperformance also was recorded in Singapore as only 22,870
\nof about 33,000 Indonesians there went to the polls. Job
\ncommitments and confusion over the various parties contesting the
\npolls were considered reasons for the no-shows.<\/p>\n
\"The quantity of parties contesting the elections has confused
\nus a lot. Imagine, there are at least three parties of the same
\nsymbol,\" said migrant worker Sunarti, a native of Blitar, East
\nJava.<\/p>\n
Sunarti said in past elections she received an invitation to
\nvote from the Indonesian Embassy. From this year on, however, the
\ngovernment has appealed to citizens to take the initiative in
\nregistering for the polls.<\/p>\n
PDI Perjuangan registered a landslide win in Singapore with
\n12,649 votes, leaving Golkar far behind in second with 3,391. The
\nUnity in Diversity Party (PBI) was third with 1,192, beating PAN
\nby a 30-vote margin.<\/p>\n
From Tokyo, Antara reported that PDI Perjuangan took a
\ncommanding lead in the vote tally with 244 votes, ahead of PAN
\nwhich garnered 222. Golkar trailed in third with 91.<\/p>\n
The polling committee in Tokyo expects to receive 5,000 votes
\nsent by mail from across Japan.<\/p>\n
A minor furor occurred on Monday when Dewi Sukarno, a widow of
\nthe late founding president Sukarno, was not allowed to vote when
\nshe showed up at a polling station in Tokyo.<\/p>\n
Election committee members rejected Dewi, who was wearing PDI
\nPerjuangan attributes, because she was not on the voter list.<\/p>\n
Japanese-born Dewi, who was accompanied by several local TV
\ncrews, then asked to be allowed to pretend to cast a ballot while
\nthe cameras rolled. Her request was denied. (amd)<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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