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.