The exodus aims for a vacation

JAKARTA (JP): The huge number of people leaving Jakarta to their hometowns to vote on May 29 still does not indicate they have a high level of political awareness, political and sociological experts said yesterday.

Sociologist Paulus Wirotomo said that the main objective of visiting hometowns is not only to vote but to visit their relatives as well.

"Many people prefer leaving the capital to enjoy a vacation," he said.

He said that an exodus during an election period had become traditional over the last few elections for migrants who mostly had informal jobs, ranging from vendors and housemaids to part- time employees.

"Similar fashion also took place during the 1992 election," Paulus said.

The sociologist classified these low-income people as seasonal migrants who could arrange their own activities and vacation time.

The number of buses departing from the Pulo Gadung terminal in East Jakarta jumped to 968 buses with 43,310 passengers on Sunday from a daily average of 800 buses.

As of 2:00 p.m. yesterday, 292 buses left the terminal with 11,287 passengers, a terminal official said.

Maswadi Rauf, a political lecturer from the University of Indonesia's School of Social and Political Sciences, urged village leaders (lurah) not to request migrants working in Jakarta to go home to vote.

More lenient procedures are needed to help prevent sudden mobilization, in addition to financial constraints, Maswadi said.

Many travelers interviewed at the terminal were reluctant to answer about the purpose of their journey, but some said they were asked by the lurah to vote in their hometowns.

"Their votes may give benefit to a lurah's position," Maswadi said, "but the election should not create dilemmas among citizens."

Governor Surjadi Soedirdja said people had the right to vote in hometowns. The election procedure had let non-Jakarta identification card holders vote in Jakarta after they received approval cards from the local district administration.

Maswadi said that asking low-income people to go home to vote will only cause them financial problems, due to the substantially increased bus ticket prices.

He said that illegal ticket prices were minimized during the Idul Fitri holiday last February.

"The Ministry of Transportation set a regulation of ticket prices during the one-month celebration," Maswadi said, "but the same rule does not apply this time, thereby burdening the impoverished."

City Councilor of the Indonesian Democratic Party, Lukman Mokoginta, shared Maswadi's opinion that the huge rise in bus fares had burdened society.

He also supported Paulus's statement that the holiday motive had influenced the election exodus rather than given benefit to lurahs' positions. (10)