Telkom promises faster foolproof vote counting

Telkom promises faster foolproof vote counting

JAKARTA (JP): The state-owned PT Telkom has invested Rp 2.1
billion ($875,000) in a facility that promises to speed up the
tallying of votes in next month's general election.

The facility, called TelkomNet, will link 40 cities in the
country with a digital data communications system, director Dadad
Kustiwa told reporters yesterday.

"This year's telecommunications facility for the election will
be quicker, more accurate and reliable," he said.

The digital system, serving data, picture and voice
transmissions, would cut the counting period to just one day.

This was compared with three days needed in the 1992 election.

Any rigging during the transmission would be discovered
because the election organizers would also do manual counting, he
said.

Telkom has also prepared fixed-line telephones, facsimiles and
telex services in 2,462 districts, or 63 percent of all
districts, Kustiwa said.

"TelkomNet will be the major channel of the information system
during the counting process. Data from the country's 27 provinces
will be sent to the General Election Institute in Jakarta as the
valid data," he said.

The flow of data would begin the moment a voter goes into a
polling booth. Data will be first compiled at each subdistrict
office, and then passed on to district offices, regencies and
provincial administrations, he said.

Data between district and provincial election committees would
be transmitted mostly by facsimile, except those in Kalimantan
and East Timor which would use telex, he said. But data from the
provincial committees to Jakarta would be sent through TelkomNet.

Telkom would utilize the fiber optic communication system,
small aperture terminals and digital microwave, he said.

In 1992, data dispatch mostly relied on radio communications
operated by the Armed Forces and local administration offices.

"This year's election will rely on TelkomNet," he said, adding
that Telkom would deploy 4,046 employees to support the election.

TelkomNet had a backbone linking 40 cities in Indonesia
controlled by a system called Network Management System (NMS).

NMS would monitor any network disruption. (icn)