Elections prep in crisis: Lemhannas
Elections prep in crisis: Lemhannas
Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Following a series of technical and logistical problems that put
the elections at risk, the National Resilience Institute
(Lemhannas) is calling on the government and the General
Elections Commission (KPU) to implement crisis management in
preparing for the polls.
"The election may not fail, but it might not take place as
scheduled. This is the latest condition based on our data. Only
abnormal people still think the electoral preparations are still
normal," Lemhannas governor Ermaya Suradinata was quoted by
Antara as saying on Saturday.
Ermaya said management crisis was urgently needed, as the
procurement of election materials, ranging from ballot boxes to
ballot papers, was not yet ready with less than a month to go.
"The (poor) preparation is more of a concern given the fact
that the delivery of materials will take time. Management crisis
strategies will allow the KPU and the government to deploy all
their human resources and work together in preparing for the
polls in one month," Ermaya said.
In its implementation, crisis management could prompt the KPU
to ask its regional offices to procure ballot boxes or polling
booths themselves.
Ermaya said he had expressed its worry about the obstacles the
KPU would face, but had received a cool response.
"I was not speaking nonsense. Lemhannas has detailed data and
information from remote villages to the central government," he
said.
The legislative election is scheduled to take place on April
5, when some 147 million people will elect members of the House
of Representatives, regional legislatures and the Regional
Representatives Council.
During the opening of a national administrative reform meeting
in Makassar on Thursday, President Megawati dismissed calls to
delay the elections and instead asked all regional governments to
help the KPU prepare for the polls.
Ermaya's suggestion is justified by the crisis in the
procurement of ballot papers, after the KPU and nine printing
companies failed on Sunday to set a new deadline to complete
printing ballot papers for the provincial and regental/municipal
legislative elections.
In a meeting led by KPU chairman Nazaruddin Sjamsuddin, KPU
deputy secretary-general Sussongko Suhardjo said the commission
demanded that all printing of ballot papers finish on March 15.
As most tender winners have not provided an estimated date of
completion, the meeting was adjourned until Monday.
None of the KPU members turned up for the crucial meeting on
Sunday.
Sukip, representing a group of printing firms under Temprina
Media Grafika, which is responsible for printing 68 million
ballot papers for the regional legislative election, said the
group could only finish on March 17 at the earliest. Previously,
Temprina had predicted that production would finish on March 20.
Deni Ramdan from the group of printers led by State Printing
Company, Wiena S. Tamin of the CV Dwi Rama group and Untung
Sastrawijaya of the Pundi Mas Putra Indojaya group blamed the
poor quality of the plain paper produced by Kertas Leces for the
slow printing process.
Earlier on Saturday, the KPU set a March 14 deadline for all
firms to complete production of ballot papers, but most of the
companies said they could only finish printing for the House and
Regional Representatives Council elections.
The KPU had already moved back the deadline from Feb. 29 to
March 11.
Despite the as yet undetermined ballot paper printing
deadline, the commission is reluctant to declare a state of
emergency in electoral preparations.
On Saturday, National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar said he
would declare a top alert status starting March 9 in anticipation
of possible security problems in connection with the March 11 to
April 1 campaign period preceding the general election.
The National Police will deploy two-thirds of its 250,000-
strong force, along with the assistance of one million trained
neighborhood watchmen to secure the elections.