Voter registration started, officers admit making errors<\/p>\n
M. Taufiqurrahman, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Becoming a field officer to collect voter data for the 2004
\ngeneral elections is a new experience for Sunarwati, a resident
\nof Bendungan Hilir, Central Jakarta. Normally a clerk for an
\nintegrated health service post, the 36-year-old therefore has to
\nspend more time mastering voter registration procedures.<\/p>\n
Along with around 9,600 officers under the coordination of the
\nCentral Statistics Agency (BPS), Sunarwati started a month-long
\nregistration program for voters on Tuesday for the 2004 general
\nelections. The current voter registration also aims to obtain a
\nsingle database for the nation's population.<\/p>\n
It took her almost an hour to fill out a form for a household
\nconsisting of four members. She made a number of mistakes, using
\nan eraser to change incorrect entries.<\/p>\n
Sunarwati was also dependent on the assistance given by her
\nfellow officer Suryati to clarify a number of questions before
\nshe canvassed residents.<\/p>\n
"This is my first foray into the work of population census,
\ntherefore I am still in the dark about some of its methods," she
\ntold The Jakarta Post.<\/p>\n
She attributed her frequent errors to the lack of training
\nprovided by the BPS.<\/p>\n
"The BPS only held two days of training, which I think is not
\nenough, since voter registration officers mostly don't have a
\nstatistical background whatsoever," she said, adding that most of
\nher fellow officers were only high school graduates.<\/p>\n
Suryati, who was assigned to conduct voter registration in
\nmore densely-populated neighborhood in Bendungan Hilir, said that
\nalthough officers in the field were provided with enough time to
\ncomplete their tasks, she assumed they would only come up with
\nmeager results.<\/p>\n
"Most of the residents in this neighborhood are street vendors
\nwho peddle during the day.<\/p>\n
"This means that we can only register them from noon until
\nnight time," she said.<\/p>\n
A resident of Bendungan Hilir, Atikah, 24, told the Post that
\nthe current procedure was too cumbersome.<\/p>\n
During the registration, she had to busy herself producing a
\nfamily card, birth certificate, marriage license and other
\ndocuments bearing the identity of her household members.<\/p>\n
"Voter registration was much easier in the last general
\nelection. An officer just asked a few questions, wrote some
\ninformation and handed us a yellow registration card," she said.<\/p>\n
When asked about whether or not she had prior knowledge about
\nthe voter registration, she said: "I don't know if the
\nregistration starts today. I didn't see any ads on TV about the
\nprocess."<\/p>\n
Separately, head of the Jakarta statistics agency, Masni Rani,
\ntold reporters that there were around six million people in
\nJakarta who were expected to vote in the election.<\/p>\n
"This is an increase from the figure for the 1999 election,
\nwhich stood at around five million," he was quoted as saying by
\nAntara.<\/p>\n
He also said that on April 30, the BPS was expected to hold a
\ncensus for the homeless population of Jakarta.<\/p>\n
"We will come late at night to search for those who live by
\nthe roadsides and under bridges," he said.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/voter-registration-started-officers-admit-making-errors-1447893297",
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