Regions brace for direct elections
Local organizers are now busy preparing for the direct regional elections, with the polls just a few weeks away. Starting in June, the country's first-ever direct regional elections will be held in 11 provinces and 215 regencies and municipalities throughout the nation. The Jakarta Post's Archipelago team looked into the preparations and possible conflicts before the polls.
A farmer in Central Java says he'd rather feed his chickens than leave home and vote in the country's first-ever direct regional elections.
The big shots weren't there to help prevent huge losses when thousands of poultry farmers lost their chickens in the bird flu crisis last year, Ignasius Dwi K said indignantly.
But local election officers across the archipelago cannot take into account such indifference; once again they're making the necessary preparations and bracing to face their neighbors' protests in the event that anything goes amiss.
Among them is Edward Dewaruci, a member of Surabaya General Election Commission (KPU). Like many other regional KPU members across the archipelago, Edward has a demanding job to prepare for the Surabaya mayoral election, scheduled to take place on June 27.
Since he was elected a KPU member in February, Edward says he has attended many meetings that have lasted until midnight and woken up early in the morning for others. He is currently in the thick of organizing preparations ahead of the campaign period; the provision and distribution of election materials.
Edward and his colleagues nationwide are even working harder these days as the elections draw nearer; the first on June 1 in Kutai Kartanegara, East Kalimantan. There is much to be done so that many people, including some organizers, have expressed doubt that the elections will go ahead successfully.
Pessimism abounds, moreover that the preparations are being plagued with financial shortcomings and other conflicts. Many regions have expressed concern about the absence of funds received from central government and worry they will have to rely on their own cash-strapped budgets to hold the polls.
There are other problems too, for this nation new to the paper wars common in local body politics. Questions over the interpretation of the election rules led people in Maluku and East Nusa Tenggara to go on a rampage recently, after their favorite candidates were barred from running due to an "eligibility problem".
The vast area of the nation, including the mountains of Papua, will also be obstacles for the smooth distribution of election materials, as has been seen in the legislative and presidential elections last year.
Then there is the threat of a boycott by an increasingly disillusioned and disenfranchised electorate. Speaking to many potential voters The Jakarta Post team found the carry-on of most elected officials in recent years has put the people's trust in all kinds of politicians, whether big or small, at a very low ebb.
Jansen Hutagaol, 48, a Medan resident puts it thus: "Direct or indirect elections -- whatever -- both are bullshit. The candidates and our leaders have never really cared about the people. You can see this; that the people stay poor and the leaders get richer after every election." Jansen says he has been working as a parking attendant for eight years.
Election observers note that if the many people who feel like Jansen do stay away, it will certainly reduce vote numbers and the election's overall legitimacy.
However, despite the mounting skepticism and logistical challenges, some still reserve hope the elections will proceed well and deliver better, more-honest politicians.
Rumbadie Dalle, a senior journalist, hoped that the direct elections would proceed peacefully and produce better outcomes than the earlier system of appointments that was prone to cronyism and graft.
"I believe that the direct election will produce credible, capable and honest regional leaders. The direct election is the best system in democracy," said Dalle, a correspondent with the leading Tempo weekly news magazine.