NGOs educate voters

JAKARTA: Non-governmental organizations grouped in the Media Coalition for Free and Fair Elections kicked off their election information dissemination program at the subdistrict level on Friday.

The first program, called the democratic town hall meeting, took place at the Senen subdistrict office in Central Jakarta and was attended by around 100 participants from other subdistricts.

Coalition executive Sopril Amir said similar programs would be held in two other subdistricts, but did not specify where.

The coalition has also organized similar programs in the cities of Medan, Bandung, Makassar, Semarang and Surabaya.

Some speakers in the program said the upcoming general elections would be different from the previous ones and advised the audience to exercise their right to vote.

The coalition members comprise the Independent Journalists Alliance (AJI), Institute of Makassar Mass Media and Information Studies (Elsim), Institute for the Studies on Free Flow of Information (ISAI), Southeast Asian Press Alliance (Seapa) Jakarta and the Science, Esthetics and Technology Foundation (Yayasan SET). -- JP