The exodus aims for a vacation

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)