Creation of new regencies to disrupt poll preparations

Creation of new regencies to disrupt poll preparations

Kurniawan Hari and A'an Suryana, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The General Elections Commission (KPU) demanded on Thursday that
the House of Representatives (DPR) stop discussing bills on the
establishment of new municipalities and regencies by June as
their creation would disrupt the mapping of the constituencies.

KPU deputy chairman Ramlan Surbakti said his office would
begin drafting the constituencies in June.

"We hope that by June there will be a fixed number of
regencies," Ramlan said at a hearing with House Commission II for
legal and home affairs.

There are currently 416 regencies and municipalities across
the country. The government and the House are deliberating
several bills on the creation of another 25 regencies and
municipalities.

Responding to the concern, legislator Manasse Mallo said his
team would finish deliberating on the creation of the 25
regencies by June.

Manasse said the establishment of these regencies and
municipalities would not disrupt election preparations by the
KPU.

"At present, the regional autonomy consultative board is
assessing the potential of these regencies. We hope it (the
assessment) will be completed soon," Manasse said.

KPU also told the House that it planned to increase its budget
by about Rp 909 billion to finance the increase in polling booths
from an earlier estimation of 383,050 to 438,042.

The money will also be spent on hiring more staff for each
polling booth, Ramlan said.

The House had approved the commission's budget of Rp 2.3
trillion for this year alone.

Indonesia is to hold a legislative election in April 2004,
followed by a direct presidential election between June and
August.

Meanwhile, another KPU member, Valina Singka Subekti, revealed
that some 400,000 monitors had registered with KPU to carry out
the monitoring of the election.

Valina said her office was preparing a guidebook and code of
ethics for the monitors.

KPU member Chusnul Mar'iyah said voter registration had cost
Rp 407 billion, most of which was spent on hiring field officers
to carry out the registration. Each officer got Rp 500 for every
person they registered.

Except for the troubled provinces of Aceh and Papua, the voter
registration process has proceeded smoothly, with almost 98
percent of the country's population of 210 million already
registered.

The census and voter registration process in Aceh is still
going on despite the conflict between the Indonesian Military
(TNI) and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) rebels in the region.

T. Hamdan, the head of the Aceh Central Statistics Agency
(BPS), said on Thursday that only 60 percent of the population in
the troubled province had been registered.

He expressed optimism that at least 70 percent of the Acehnese
people would be registered by May 31, the date the General
Elections Commission (KPU) has set as the deadline for
registration in Aceh.

"We will be unable to complete the census and voter
registration by that date due to security reasons," said Hamdan.

At least six regencies in Aceh, including Pidie and Bireun,
are prone to clashes as they are GAM strongholds, preventing
registration field officers from completing registration there.

Hamdan said the May 31 deadline could be extended until
October this year if security worsens.

"I am not even sure whether we can complete the registration
process by that date if the security situation is still not that
conducive," he said.