Subdistrict ready for Sept. 20 runoff

Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

With the presidential election runoff only three days away, members of subdistrict election committees on Friday were busy making final preparations for the Sept. 20 election.

Nining, 38, chairwoman of Pondok Pinang subdistrict election committee, was busy making a final check of all logistics -- ballot papers, voter lists, voting guidelines and various kinds of forms -- for the 165 polling stations in her subdistrict.

Helped by two committee members, she had to sign letters for voters who wanted to vote in other subdistricts.

"These days, we have to be in the secretariat until late at night. Last night, I left after 1 a.m. The work will reach its peak on the eve of the election. We will have to spend the night here," Nining told The Jakarta Post.

She said the subdistrict poll committee members had to be available at the secretariat to coordinate with the members of the 165 polling stations.

Each subdistrict election committee has six members -- one chairperson, two members, one secretary, one treasurer and another in charge of accommodation. The last three are civil servants at the designated subdistrict.

They must coordinate with polling stations in the subdistrict. Each polling station has one chairman, six members, and two security guards.

A similar situation was also seen at a secretariat of South Sukabumi subdistrict election committee in West Jakarta.

"We hope our final check of all logistics will finish tomorrow (on Saturday). We plan to seal all ballot boxes then," said committee chairman Husen Supratman, adding that committee members had to stay at the secretariat until 11 p.m. these days.

He said the election logistical materials would be distributed to polling stations on Sunday.

With a total of 26,522 eligible voters in the subdistrict, the committee will erect 99 polling stations.

Nining and Husen said subdistrict poll committees members had been employed by the Jakarta General Elections Commission (KPUD) since September 2003 and their job would finish in December.

They said each subdistrict election committee chairman in Jakarta received Rp 600,0000 (US$67.42) per month -- Rp 500,000 from the city budget and Rp 100,000 from the state budget. Committee members received Rp 560,000.

Husen said the committee had no operational fund to prepare for the election. Therefore, he had to borrow money from the subdistrict office for its activities, including photocopying various documents.

Husen, who is a retired civil servant, said his allowance was only enough to cover his daily duties as committee chairman.

However, he claimed he did not care about the amount. "We are happy if the election in the subdistrict goes smoothly."