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.