Make election day a holiday

Make election day a holiday

From Jayakarta

Personally, I heartily support the idea of holding the
upcoming general election on a holiday, or to declare that day a
holiday. As the chairman of the United Development Party, Ismail
Hasan Metareum said, the day is a "national day" which deserves
to be observed and Indonesians will, on that day, be performing a
"national task". Also, a recent survey by the Institute for
Economic and Social Studies, Education and Information showed
that the majority (55.6 percent) of those who responded wanted
the election to be held on a holiday.

In 1987 and again in 1992, I appealed to the authorities to
hold the general elections on a Sunday in all Neighborhood
Unit/Community Unit neighborhoods where the voting could proceed
in safety, free from any kind of undesired disturbances. The
reply from the authorities concerned was that using a Sunday for
holding the elections would take away family recreation time.

Such a reply made me laugh. Who wouldn't be willing to
sacrifice a little recreation time for a national task which is
done only once in every five years? On the other hand, people
were given two days off for the APEC Conference, which was not
entirely for our own national interest.

MAS SOEBANDI

Jakarta