Jakartans start preparing for Monday runoff

Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

Crisp, white, and a sight to behold, thought Nur, 25, who spent Saturday with his fellow workers erecting 11 tents that will serve as polling stations on Monday, on Jl. Kartika Utama in Pondok Indah housing estate, South Jakarta. They braved the sun, but putting up the tents was hardly a battle for the 12 workers. While they measure some 50 square meters each, the men stretched the vast sheets of fabric over frames like old hands.

"We are yet to find out how much we would be paid for our work," Nur, who is employed by an event organizer, told The Jakarta Post.

He was more up on the price of the shelters themselves, saying a 100-square-meter tent costs Rp 1 million (some US$108), including the rent of six tables and three dozen chairs.

All over the city, workers, residents and local election organizers have been busy preparing polling stations for the runoff, which will complete the nation's first direct presidential election.

Some of the stations are upmarket, like the ones in Pondok Indah, but the Jakarta General Elections Commission (KPUD) only allocated Rp 250,000 for each of the city's 24,000 polling stations, so others are a simple affair.

Priyono, a member of the election committee for polling station 132 at community unit 15 (RW) in Pondok Indah, said that residents had chipped in to pay for the tents. However, none of them were seen at the location on Saturday.

"Only the chairman is a Pondok Indah resident, while the members are from other neighborhoods. Unlike other areas, only a few Pondok Indah residents are prepared to be committee members," he told the Post.

According to Kari, a member of the election committee for Kramat Pela subdistrict, near Kemang in South Jakarta, the money from the KPUD was just enough to build a modest polling station.

Also the chief of neighborhood unit 2 (RT), Kari said that only 10 out of 49 houses in his jurisdiction were occupied by permanent residents. The others were rented, mostly by expatriates.

Plastic and bamboo tents were erected in Grogol Utara subdistrict, also in South Jakarta. On Saturday afternoon, residents and committee members were just starting to put up station No. 097, which will serve about 300 voters.

The tents had already been used for two elections -- the legislative election on April 5 and the first round of the presidential election on July 5 -- but the committee didn't want to waste the KPUD's money.

"By doing that, we can allocate the rest of the money for mailing and other necessities during the election," said Suwarno, chairman of the committee for station 097.