Some residents in dark about start of voter registration
Some residents in dark about start of voter registration
Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The month-long registration of voters for the 2004 general
election starts on Tuesday, but not all Jakartans are aware of
the nationwide program despite administration officials' claim
that they had disseminated information well ahead of the
registration.
Rodiah Hidayat of Cipinang Utara regency in East Jakarta told
The Jakarta Post on Monday that she not received a circular or
direct information from local officials on the plan to hold door-
to-door registration.
"Will it start tomorrow? I've heard that a son of my neighbor
had been selected as one of the field officers to collect data on
voters but I don't know when it will take place.
"But some subdistrict officers came to get a copy of our
family card the other night. They said they would computerize the
document, but said nothing about the voter registration," she
said.
Harry A. Roboth, head of a neighborhood unit in Kelapa Gading
Barat, North Jakarta, said that volunteers from each subdistricts
were working as field officers for the Regional General Elections
Commission (KPUD) in cooperation with the Central Statistics
Agency (BPS) to hold a census and to register eligible voters at
the same time.
He said that the computerization of family cards was needed
for the census. This and the vote registration are two different
programs, although they are being conducted simultaneously.
Roboth said he just got the circular from the subdistrict
administration earlier in the day informing residents to prepare
the required documents for the voter registration as officers
would come to their house between April 1 and 30.
For the registration, residents are required to produce a
family card, birth certificate, marriage certificates or other
documents that reveal the identity of the residents.
The officers are required to record the resident's full name,
parents' names, address, place and date of birth, marital status,
occupation, education, religion, and whether they have a physical
disability.
Driantama, a resident of Lenteng Agung in South Jakarta, said
he was aware of the plan only from the news but had not received
any information from the local administration.
But Monica of Kebayoran Baru regency, South Jakarta, said that
she had received the circular on Saturday.
About 130 million people nationwide are expected to join the
election.
In the preparation for the upcoming election, KPU asked BPS to
integrate both the demographic data and the voter registration in
a bid to obtain a single database on the nation's population.
The 2004 election is the first direct presidential election.
Voters are scheduled to vote in the legislative election on April
5, 2003, while the presidential election is set for June.
Even though the process will start on Tuesday, members of the
Jakarta General Elections Commission have not been elected.
"But it is no problem because for the whole month, the
officers will only collect data," city spokesman Muhayat claimed.
He said that the work could be done by a city officer who had
been assigned as general secretary of the commission.
The presence of the commission members would be required to
"read" the data, he added.
According to the procedures, Governor Sutiyoso is to form an
independent team to propose 10 names as candidates for the local
commission members. The National Election Commission will later
select five names.
Muhayat said his office had disseminated information on
registration in the last two weeks through radio and newspapers.
"But we may have failed to reach all residents", he said.
He said that subdistrict administrations were authorized to
give the information directly to residents.
At 9 a.m. on Tuesday, a registration team will come to Vice
President Hamzah Haz, while other teams are set to visit
President Megawati Soekarnoputri at 10 a.m., and Governor
Sutiyoso afterwards.