Indonesian housemaids in Gulf miss polls

JAKARTA (JP): More than 3,500 Indonesian domestic helpers in Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar could not vote in the June 7 general election because they were refused permission by their employers, a student activist said on Saturday.

Guspiabri of the Association of Indonesian Students for Strategic and International Studies (Aissis), a student group acting as a poll watchdog for Indonesian voters overseas, said that Indonesian embassies in all three Gulf states claimed that employers of domestic helpers did not permit them to leave the residences to vote. The helpers were registered, he added.

"The Overseas General Elections bureau (BPLN) at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the Indonesian embassies in Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain notified all people there of the elections on June 7," Guspiabri said at a news conference on overseas Indonesian voters at the Aryaduta Hotel in Central Jakarta.

"A lot showed up for voter registration, but not even half for the voting itself."

Guspiabri added that in the three Gulf states, only 1,139 of about 5,000 registered Indonesian voters cast their ballots on June 7.

Worldwide, about 1.9 million registered Indonesian voters are estimated to have voted.

The group said only four of the 108 Overseas Electoral Committee (PPLN) offices worldwide had yet to send accurate figures and details on the voters.

Guspiabri identified them as the offices in Jeddah (40,000 registered voters), Singapore (33,000), Tokyo (6,730) and Davao City in the Philippines (3,515).(ylt)