'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