TKIs able to vote in 2004 polls

JAKARTA: The government has said that Indonesian citizens working illegally overseas (TKIs), will not lose their voting rights in the 2004 general election and need not fear possible arrest.

Iswayudha, a senior official at the Directorate of the Protection of Indonesians Overseas at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said here on Wednesday that the data on TKIs would be kept secret and only used for electoral purposes.

An estimated 1.1 million Indonesian citizens are working overseas and the most part of them are employed illegally in Malaysia and the Middle East.

Iswayudha said, Indonesian Embassies were set to collect data in October on Indonesian workers overseas, including those working without the necessary documents. --JP