'Public not aware of election preparations'

'Public not aware of election preparations'

Arya Abhiseka, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Winarto, a public minivan driver plying the Kebayoran Lama-Tanah
Abang route, was obviously baffled when asked if he was ready to
register for the 2004 general elections.

"Elections? This Tuesday? No, I didn't know that registration
was so soon," Winarto, 32, told The Jakarta Post early this week.

Udin, 22, a janitor at a film company in Central Jakarta, said
that he had no idea yet of the time line or the mechanism of next
year's general election.

"I am not familiar with the entire process of the next year's
general election," he said.

The National Elections Commission (KPU) had decided to start
voter registration for next year's elections on April 1, 2003.
The commission said earlier that there were around 130 million
eligible voters around the country.

Sadly, however, not too many people are aware of the time line
set by KPU, and according to Hadar Gumay from the Center for
Electoral Reform (CETRO), members of the House of Representatives
(DPR) are to blame for that.