'Govt not serious about elections'

'Govt not serious about elections'

JAKARTA: The chairman of the General Elections Supervisory Committee, Komaruddin Hidayat, accused the government on Tuesday of being lackadaisical in its preparations for next year's elections.

"I would say the government is not serious in its preparations for the election," Komaruddin said after a meeting with Vice President Hamzah Haz.

He said the government's failure to release in full the funds for his committee was an indication of its lack of urgency.

"Without supervision, democracy cannot run well," he said, adding that supervision was an integral part of the election process.

He stressed the importance of setting up committee branches at the central, provincial, district and subdistrict levels, but said that without the funds this would not be possible.

The committee, according to Komaruddin, had received only Rp 200 billion (US$200 million) of the Rp 500 billion it needed to do its job. --Antara