KPU members criticized for overseas voter program

KPU members criticized for overseas voter program

M. Taufiqurrahman and Dadan Wijaksana, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

A coalition of non-governmental organizations criticized on
Monday an overseas trip by three members of the General Elections
Commission (KPU), branding it a waste of funds that the
commission currently lacked.

The Indonesian Forum for Budget Transparency, the Jakarta
Legal Aid Institute (LBH Jakarta) and the Indonesian Forum for
Parliamentary Concern (Formappi) said in a joint statement that
the trip, under the guise of a voter education program, had
little relevance to the Sept. 20 runoff election as the bulk of
voters resided in the country.

"The number of registered voters abroad is around 458,000 or
only 0.29 percent of a total 153.3 million eligible voters, so
the voter education program for overseas voters should not have
been a priority for the KPU," Formappi secretary-general
Sebastian Salang said.

He said that voter education was not of great importance as
overseas voters were mostly educated and better informed compared
with voters in the country.

Beginning last week, members of the KPU will take turns to
travel to foreign countries.

KPU chairman Nazaruddin Sjamsuddin has just returned from the
Netherlands, Austria, Norway and Hungary.

Commission member Chusnul Mariyah is currently touring Middle
Eastern countries, while fellow member Daan Dimara is expected to
leave for Argentina in the near future.

Members of the KPU made similar trips earlier in January.

Nazaruddin defended the overseas journey, saying voter
education was important, regardless of the number of voters.
"However small in number, we cannot ignore our voters abroad," he
said.

He also said the trip was part of a KPU campaign to tell the
outside world about the country's electoral process and would be
valuable to further diplomatic relations with other countries.

Data from the KPU secretary-general said the commission had
earmarked Rp 19 billion (US$2.1 million) to organize elections on
foreign soil and finance the trips abroad.

The trips were made while the KPU was preparing for the runoff
election on a shoestring budget. The House of Representatives
budgetary committee has agreed, after a prolonged discussion with
the KPU, to disburse Rp 62.9 million in bridging funds to help
the commission organize the Sept. 20 runoff, compared with the Rp
418 billion proposed by the KPU.

Meanwhile, Nazaruddin said during a meeting with the budgetary
committee on Monday that the remainder of the election budget
should be disbursed before the end of this month.

"Given the significance of the funds to cover a variety of
expenses for distribution of electoral materials and other
operational costs, we request that they be disbursed by the end
of August," Nazaruddin told the hearing, which was attended by
Minister of Finance Boediono.

Nazaruddin was referring to the Rp 356 billion in funds the
KPU had earlier requested, in addition to the bridging fund.