Papua 'walk the walk' before voting

Nethy Dharma Somba, The Jakarta Post/Jayapura

Walking one or two days to vote is not usual for the people of Papua, Indonesia's easternmost province.

In Jayawijaya regency, for example, one of the most remote and mountainous regencies in the province, people have to walk for at least one day to reach the district capital to vote. Many of the registered voters make the event a family affair, bringing along their children, grandchildren, pets and pigs to the polling station.

During the New Order era, residents only had to make the journey once every five years. This year, however, was a very busy voting season. There was the April 5 legislative election, the first round of the presidential election on July 5 and the second round and September 20.

Despite the difficulties, residents are eager to travel to polling stations so they can participate in the country's democracy, while at the same time catching up with relatives from distant hamlets.

Residents bring along musical instruments, food and drink to the polling stations, and after they vote the real party begins.

Officials support this tradition because they know it helps improve voter turnout.

Hasjim Sangadji, the secretary of the Papua General Elections Commission (KPU), said the commission provided meals to residents to entice them to come out and vote.

"If we do not provide them with meals, they are not interested in voting," he said.

The chairman of the Jayawijaya KPU, Agustinus Rorong, agreed that the commission took advantage of local traditions to attract local voters to the polls.

"We use the traditions to attract them to participate in the election," said Rorong.

Hasjim Sangadji said Papua had very unique geographical features compared to other provinces in Indonesia.

Its mountainous areas prevent people from traveling by car or motorcycle, meaning they have to go by foot or airplane to reach their destinations.

The sparse population poses another problem for the KPU. One subdistrict can be home to just 10 families, and these 10 families might include just five registered voters.

The lack of registered voters forces the KPU to pool several polling stations from the same district into one polling station, for the sake of efficiency.

Due to its difficult terrain, Sangadji said Papua received special funds from the central government for organizing the election in the province.

Some of this money went for transporting election materials to the more remote areas and purchasing meals provided for residents at the polling stations, Sangadji said.

However, he said not all polling stations put on a feed for residents. This special treatment is reserved for polling stations in the remoter areas. In Jayawijaya regency, these remote hamlets include the Kenyam, Mapenduma, Tiom, Gamelia, Apahapsili, Abenaho and Kobakma hamlets.

This generous treatment and the traditional customs help account for the high turnout in the elections in Papua.

In the legislative election, 155,476 out of some 160,000 registered voters in Jayawijaya regency voted. In the first round of the presidential election, the number of votes cast fell to 152,675, but rose again to 152,675 in the second round of the presidential election.

In total, above 90 percent of the total number of registered voters in the province voted in the three elections.