BPS extends people registration to November

BPS extends people registration to November

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Jakarta office of the Central Statistics Agency (BPS)
revealed difficulties on Monday in registering people,
particularly those who live in luxury houses, prompting it to
allow self-registration for unregistered voters up to November.

"We encountered a lot of difficulty in registering people in
upmarket houses, as most of them were away during the day," head
of the BPS Jakarta office Masni Rani said on Monday.

According to Masni, the majority of registration officers
tasked to register people living in luxury residential areas such
as Pantai Indah Kapuk, Pondok Indah, Kalibata Indah, and also
those living in condominiums, had complained about the
difficulty.

She said that she understood their difficulty as their pay was
based only on the number of people they registered. Registration
officers receive only Rp 500 (59 US cents) per person registered.

The central government has allocated about Rp 11 billion for
registration of the city's population.

"If they have to visit a house several times, they will suffer
a financial loss in transportation costs as they will only be
paid Rp 500 per individual registration," Masni added. The lowest
transportation cost is Rp 1,000 per journey by public bus.

She stated that some 9,600 registration officers deployed in
the city had managed to register about 97.03 percent of the total
8.4 million population of Jakarta.

House-to-house registration by officers was scheduled to be
finalized on April 30, but it was then extended to May 15 because
many people were still unregistered.

But from now until November, she said, unregistered people
would be allowed to register themselves directly at a number of
posts already set up by BPS across the city.

Secretary to the Jakarta General Elections Commission (KPUD)
Ismet Hassan estimated that six million Jakarta people would have
the right to vote next year, one million more than last year's
total.

He said the total was not fixed until the result of the
analysis from the final registration was announced.

"We are still providing a chance until November for those who
have not yet been registered. Although the number is not so
significant, we don't want them to miss their opportunity to vote
in next year's general election," Ismet added. The general
election is scheduled for next April.

The agency, in cooperation with the General Elections
Commission (KPU), began registration, officially known as the
population census and regular registration of voters (P4B), in
early April.

Results of the registration will be used to compile the
database of voters. If successful, the registration could be
carried out more frequently, not just before a general election,
every five years.