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