11th hour wooing of voters

11th hour wooing of voters

Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Indonesians worked hand-in-hand on Sunday to establish polling
stations for Monday's historic presidential election despite
reports of little funds received from the General Elections
Commission (KPU).

To lure voters, a number of polling booths in Jember regency,
East Java, offered door prizes, Antara reported.

Jember's KPU chairman Syakir Asari was quoted as saying the
move was positive as long as it was not misused to influence
voters to vote for certain candidates.

The election is expected to run smoothly and successfully as
the National Police said they had not detected any sign of
sabotage or violence aimed at trying to disrupt the poll.

In Denpasar, Bali, residents were busy working together in
their respective areas to get their polling stations ready before
Sunday evening.

Most of them turned community halls, school buildings,
handicraft showrooms and hotel yards into polling stations.

"Although we don't have much money, our neighborhoods have
contributed many materials such as bamboo, wood and cardboard to
set up the stations," said Ketut, a resident of Dauh Puri Kaja in
Denpasar.

Local committee members acknowledged they only received Rp
50,000 to Rp 100,000 to build one polling station, while in fact
it cost up to Rp 300,000.

A similar initiative was also taken in Bantul regency,
Yogyakarta, where polling station committee members were helped
by at least five residents in every station to prepare equipment,
such as desks, chairs, tents and a sound system.

"All electoral logistical materials have reached every
district in Bantul this (Sunday) morning. We hope they can be
brought to the polling stations this afternoon," Bantul election
committee head Arif Iskandar told Antara.

High enthusiasm was also shown by residents in Bengkulu
province, who worked together to establish their polling
stations.

Head of polling station No. 22 in Panorama district, Bengkulu,
Hermansyah, said the preparations for Monday's election were
better than the legislative election because the equipment
arrived much earlier.

Palu election committee head Amran Bakir in Central Sulawesi,
said every one of the 650 polling stations there had received
equipment on Saturday.

All polling stations throughout the city were ready by Sunday
afternoon, he added.

Residents of Keerom regency in Papua were also gearing up for
the poll on Monday after election materials were distributed to
polling stations on Sunday.

Keerom Regent Yusuf Wally said that he had to rent a Cessna
plane to distribute poll equipment to remote areas throughout the
regency.

He said his office provided Rp 200 million for the Keerom
election committee and 100 million for the local election
supervisory committee to enable the election to be held on
Monday.

Meanwhile, National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Paiman
promised to ensure peaceful elections nationwide by beefing up
security during and after the poll.

Some two-thirds of a total 274,000 police personnel are on
standby, despite the absence of any signs of terrorist attacks,
riots or other violence, he added.

"Three or four polling stations will be guarded by at least
two police officers," said Paiman.

He said the police added personnel deployed in conflict areas,
such as Aceh, Poso, Ambon and Papua in anticipation of possible
clashes on Monday.

More than 150 million people are eligible to vote across the
country, a vast archipelago of 17,000 islands.