Media center's $80 million counting system

JAKARTA (JP): Scores of journalists and observers from all over the world crammed the Joint Operation Media Center at Hotel Aryaduta on Monday evening for the initial tabulation of votes.

The Indonesian officials, who have spent US$80 million on the supposedly sophisticated computer system, have promised online "reliable but unofficial" data collected from across the country.

But what initially came out of the expensive system was a confusing piece of information. At 8:30 p.m., data emerged showing Golkar Party with 300 votes, far higher than other parties did.

TV stations which aired the data without any further explanation were flooded with calls from people demanding details -- something which the stations did not have.

The Forum for Journalists Covering the Election said that the Media Center officials were equally confused, and none of them could give a satisfactory explanation when a barrage of reporters confronted them with the information.

As outrage reigned, rumors spread that the data was merely a simulation conducted by the General Elections Committee (KPU). Some people said simulations were forbidden after vote counting had begun.

Then came "unofficial data" covering ballot results from Aceh, although KPU officials swore they had not received any information from the troubled territory.

Thanks to poll monitoring activists, reporters learned that the 300 figure for Golkar came from two polling places in Bali and South Sulawesi, and was provided by KPU and not the work of the media center.

At 10:15 p.m. on Monday, only 7,791 election returns had reached the media center, with the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) taking the lead with 4,513, well ahead of Golkar's 1,855 votes.

The UNDP-funded Joint Operations Media Center was set up to be the official source of all information concerning the elections, touted as the "freest" since 1955. Available information includes reliable, but unofficial, results from KPU and accredited poll monitoring agencies.

Andi Mallarangeng, a KPU official in charge of election data, blamed the slow vote tabulation on the painfully slow ballot counting in the 250,000 polling places across the country.

He said that in many areas, ballot counting did not finish until early Tuesday, making it impossible for them to transmit data through the computer systems of local Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI) and Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI).

"But today (Tuesday) we will be flooded with data," he said.

Mallarangeng dismissed fears that the slow flow of data to Jakarta would allow rigging, due to breaches of computer security systems.

Chief of the Indonesian Election Committee Jacob Tobing said he expected the flow would get faster as of Wednesday.

The computerized electoral data transfer system has promised "fast and accurate" counting with the wide area networks, secure system, internet and intranet.

The high-speed data transmission system has been widely used by Indonesian banks for their automatic teller machines. While the real-time data system has also been used by the Antara news agency and the stock markets in Jakarta and Surabaya. (pan)