KONI waives blame over voting snafu

JAKARTA (JP): The director of training at the National Sports Council (KONI), Imron Z.S., said Tuesday the council was not to blame for athletes' failure to vote in Monday's general election.

He said he asked the National Elections Committee to familiarize athletes with new regulations on voter registration.

Imron was responding to complaints from several national athletes who failed to vote on Monday. The athletes are taking part in KONI's centralized training program for the 20th Southeast Asian Games.

The athletes said they were not aware of the April 5 to May 15 voter registration period due to their tight training schedule.

Other athletes who come from outside of Jakarta said they were unsure where they were supposed to vote. A number of the athletes blamed their failure to vote in the elections on KONI, who did not register the athletes as it had in past elections.

In the 1997 elections, KONI set up a polling place in its parking lot, located next to the athletes' dormitory at the Hotel Atlet Century Park in Central Jakarta.

This year, the mayoralty elections committee forbade the council from setting up a polling place for athletes, saying "polling places in front of office buildings are not allowed because nobody is allowed special privileges, including athletes", according to Imron.

"Don't make athletes scapegoats. We should blame the elections committee for not clearly explaining (the regulations) to the people. The election regulations are new and people need time to become familiar with them," he said.

Imron said he told the coordinators of each sports body to inform athletes they could vote at polling stations at Moestopo University and Gelora subdistrict. (ivy)