Ballot paper printing may have to be rescheduled

Moch. N. Kurniawan and Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Less than a month from polling day, the General Elections Commission (KPU) may be forced to again reschedule the printing of ballot papers at the request of two major printing companies.

PT Temprina Media Grafika and the State Printing Company (PNRI), who are responsible for over 15 percent of the 660 million ballot papers between them, said they could finish their job on March 20 at the earliest, over nine days behind the March 11 deadline.

Earlier on Wednesday, the CV Dwi Rama group also said it would not be able finish the printing job on time.

KPU chairman Nazaruddin Sjamsuddin said on Friday he was once glad to hear that ballot paper printing would be completed one day before the deadline, but unfortunately it was only for the ballot papers for the election of House of Representatives (DPR) and the Regional Representative Council (DPD) members.

"This has become very stressful," he said.

He urged the printing companies to get serious about completing their jobs as the election "is not a matter of business, but an important moment for the country that will have ramifications in the future".

The KPU will have an emergency meeting on Saturday to decide whether or not to reschedule the delivery of the ballots.

On Sunday the commission delayed the last day of ballot paper printing to March 11, almost three weeks behind the original schedule. Based on that revised timetable, the KPU expected that all ballot papers could reach all provincial electoral centers by March 30 at the latest.

Over 143 million people will go to the polls to elect their representatives for the DPR, the DPD, the provincial legislature (DPRD I) and regental/municipal legislature (DPRD II) members on April 5.

Temprina spokesman Mufti Mubarok blamed the large amount of red tape involved in obtaining the original templates and specially sized paper for the delay particularly for ballot papers with DPRD I and II candidates.

"But ballot papers for the election of House members will finish by March 10," he said.

He said he had raised the issue with the KPU, but received no response,

Denny Ramdan, the manager of PT Enka Parahyangan, a member of PNRI group, concurred with Mufti.

"These (bureaucratic) problems have slowed us down considerably. Our production cost has also increased because of it." he said.

Mufti demanded that KPU increase the ballot printing cost by 20 percent of the current price of Rp 275 per ballot paper, while Denny wanted it increased to Rp 400 per ballot.

Earlier in the day, KPU member Valina Singka Subekti said that the KPU would allocate some 1,200 tons of ballot papers to be distributed by the Air Force to West Irian Jaya, Papua, Maluku, Aceh and Riau Islands.

"We face the most difficulty in transporting the papers there, so we will not allow private firms to deliver ballot papers to those areas," she said.

Delivery of ballot papers to the remaining areas will be handled by four companies, including PT Pos Indonesia, PT Sentra Indologis Utama, PT Aneka Jasa Putratama, and PT Pandu Siwi Sentosa.

Meanwhile, the House called on the government to limit the number of foreign election watchdogs entering the troubled province of Aceh, fearing that they would misuse their presence for pro-rebel propaganda.

"The government must issue a regulation to limit the number of foreign poll monitors. They must not disrupt the elections in Aceh," deputy House speaker Soetardjo Soerjogoeritno told the press after a meeting with the House's team assigned to monitor the "integrated operation" in the province.