Acehnese indifferent to RI election,

Acehnese indifferent to RI election,
but will vote to 'avoid trouble'

Nani Farida
The Jakarta Post
Banda Aceh, Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam

The situation in Aceh Nanggroe Darussalam at present is calmer
than it has been in recent months, but it is not really very
different from other days aside from the thousands of party flags
fluttering in Banda Aceh during the political campaign period.

Only a handful of people have attended campaign rallies and
not many parties are capable, or willing, to stage major rallies
here. Representatives of several parties have opted to campaign
"door-to-door", citing reasons of safety and lack of funds.

Campaigns are usually livened up by teenage boys hoping to get
free T-shirts. Around 100 or so party sympathizers were seen
lazing around at a "campaign event".

"No matter who gets elected, our fate will remain unchanged,"
Amri, a roadside vendor at the market here, bemoaned.

He admitted that he had no interest in the campaign. He
carries on with his daily business until the evening, says his
evening prayers at the Baiturrahman Grand mosque and returns home
to Darussalam district, 12 kilometers from the market.

He still has not decided whether he will even vote this year.
"But if they make me vote, I'll just follow along, rather than
running into problems because of it," said the father of two.

Rosni, 24, a student at Abulyatama University in Banda Aceh,
feels the same. "To be honest I haven't even paid attention to
the voting procedures," she said.

She lives outside of the capital in an area considered to be a
stronghold of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM). Although she says she
does not support GAM, she said none of the national parties
matched her aspirations either.

"But we still have to go to the polls as we have been
registered as voters. We'll just punch the ballot papers. We'll
be considered GAM supporters if we don't vote," she explained.

Like Amri and Rosni, most people in Aceh generally just want
to be on the safe side.

Based on data from the Provincial Statistics Agency (BPS), the
number of eligible voters in Aceh is 2,476,533 people. The total
population is approximately 4 million. The eligible voter figure
obtained was not based on house-to-house surveys as it was in
other provinces, but based on family registration cards kept on
file in subdistrict offices in Aceh.

BPS officials admitted that it was too risky to conduct
surveys in many areas after several of its surveyors had been
physically abused by armed groups.

Many people say they do not even know whether they are
eligible to vote.

As far as civic education, district heads, district police and
military commanders have been directly involved in election
education sessions in most villages. However, the education
generally consists of simply encouraging villagers to go to the
polls.

As the election nears, rumor has it that anyone found not
voting will have to deal directly with Indonesian Military (TNI)
soldiers, and be branded a GAM sympathizer.

In areas where GAM's influence is particularly strong, the
impression is that people are even more "squeezed" between GAM
and the TNI.

In those areas, GAM intimidation is said to be strong. For
instance, in North Aceh Sawang district, mockingly dubbed "GAM's
Cilangkap" (TNI's headquarters is in Cilangkap, East Jakarta),
subdistrict leaders complained of intimidation after they tried
to recruit residents to become election security volunteers.

"Village heads were forced to stay in district offices as they
were afraid to return to their villages," said Sawang district
head, Abdul Bari.

The situation ahead of the April 5 legislative election is
worsened by the fact that violations by political parties seem to
go undetected by the Elections Supervisory Committee (Panwaslu).

There was no action taken after there were reports of a TNI
member who allegedly forced village heads in the Aceh Jaya area
to support a specific party.

Then there was the case of how former refugees from Pusong
Kapai village in East Aceh, who were not known to be members of
any party suddenly, en masse, acquired new Golkar Party
membership cards -- long before the other parties began
elucidating their platforms to woo members during the campaign
period, which started on March 11.

The Committee officials claimed they had not received reports
on irregularities.

"We'll just see on April 5 whether forceful means were used or
not," Syamsul, a North Aceh Panwaslu member, told The Jakarta
Post.