KPU admits flaws in voter registration

KPU admits flaws in voter registration

Arya Abhiseka
The Jakarta Post
Jakarta

The General Elections Commission (KPU) admitted on Tuesday that
many flaws were evident in the voter registration process as
revealed by a resistance to the program in some regions.

Chairman of the KPU Nazaruddin Sjamsuddin said he had received
reports on some individuals who claimed their right to submit an
unmarked ballot during the upcoming general elections by refusing
to be registered by field officers from the Central Bureau of
Statistics (BPS).

"It is not a problem if an individual chooses to exercise
their right to leave their ballot empty on election day. However,
the voter registration process is also being used to take the
national census, through which citizens will be registered and
given their identity number," he said.

Agus Suherman, the head of the national census and the voter
registration process, told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday that some
resistance to the program had occurred in the West Java regency
of Garut and several areas in East Java.

In those areas, Agus said, religious leaders had suggested
their followers to boycott the voter registration as an
expression of their dissatisfaction with current political
practices.

Agus said the public's refusal to be registered resulted from
lack of public information on the voter registration process.

"It (the registration) is also taking the national census. It
is unpolitical, and the people must comply if they still want
their Indonesian citizenship," he said.

Nazaruddin said that the public misunderstood the difference
between exercising their individual rights and submitting to the
voter registration procedure, which was instrumental to their
personal administrative needs.

He explained further that if an individual did not have an
identity number, there was a great possibility that they would be
denied issue of an identification card, a driver's license, a
marriage license, a passport or a visa.

The negative response to the registration also showed that
preparations for the upcoming elections were uncoordinated. The
voter registration process had been hindered by a lack of
registration forms, field officers, public awareness and public
acceptance.

Many have criticized the KPU on the poor awareness campaign
for the general elections process, which could lead to public
misinformation and misconceptions.

Safder Yussac, secretary general of the KPU, said on Tuesday
that his institution had budgeted properly for the general
elections awareness campaign, but that time constraints had
prevented it from setting up a proper campaign.

"We budgeted some Rp 1.5 billion (US$169,539) for the
awareness campaign. However, we had only two weeks before April 1
to plan a proper campaign, as a result of the prolonged
deliberation of election bill," he explained.

The House of Representatives endorsed the election bill on
Feb. 18 this year, leaving the KPU with only seven weeks to
develop up a public service announcement, print and disburse
voter registration forms and register voters, from April 1 to
April 30.

The country's first direct general election will take place on
April 5, 2003, and will be followed by a two-stage presidential
election between June and August, in which some 130 million
voters are expected to participate.