Volatile regions face dilemma over elections

By Edy M. Ya'kub

JAKARTA (Antara): Will elections be held or not in the troubled Aceh regencies of North Aceh, East Aceh and Pidie? For that matter, will there be elections in riot-torn Maluku, West Kalimantan, East Timor and Irian Jaya, which has been beset with separatism?

Minister of Home Affairs Syarwan Hamid and General Elections Commission (KPU) chairman Rudini have both acknowledged the possibility of delaying the vote, at least in Aceh, for up to 30 days. Even Minister of Defense and Security/Indonesian Military Commander Gen. Wiranto has hinted that a postponement may take place for security reasons.

"If tensions continue to escalate and even become uncontrollable, elections may be delayed," Wiranto said on Tuesday at military headquarters in Cilangkap, East Jakarta.

Security concerns aside, even election officials in North Maluku regency have suggested the possibility of a delay on technical grounds. Chairman of the North Maluku election committee Abdurrahim Fabanyo revealed the following details:

"... the ballot papers for the House of Representatives, the provincial legislative assembly and the district legislative assembly number 408,000 copies each, but as of May 19 we had received only 400,400 ballot papers for the House of Representatives, 398,000 copies for the provincial legislative assembly and 404,000 copies for the district legislative assembly."

He said other logistic problems abounded. For instance, his office had so far received only 815 sets from the promised 950 sets of voter registration notes and 390,502 document stamps instead of the promised 407,992 stamps.

In addition, the local elections committee had not received the ink (to mark voters' fingers, so multiple voting can be prevented), and various other documents and equipment.

"Because of these shortcomings, the local elections committee has not distributed them to the sub-district elections committees, although it will take at least one week to dispatch the documents to all sub-districts.

"Then it will take about two weeks from the district elections committees to the subdistrict elections committees, and about two days from the subdistrict committees to the polling places.

"Altogether, it will take three weeks and two days," he said. "Because of these late deliveries, it is very likely that the general election cannot be held on June 7, 1999."

Although it seems there are some problems regarding readiness in the field, the Maluku elections committee is yet to announce a postponement of the elections.

"We have reported our situation to the General Elections Commission (KPU) and National Elections Committee (PPI). Their reply is that whatever the reason may be, the general election in Maluku must be held as scheduled," chairman of the Maluku elections committee, Lutfy Sanaky said in Ambon on May 27.

He said election preparations in Maluku were about 75% completed.

"Ballot boxes and ballot papers have been distributed to the district elections committees, which will in turn distribute them to the sub-district elections committees and later on to the local elections committees. At some election sites (TPS), the voting booths have even been put up."

He added that Maluku Governor Saleh Latuconsina had told Home Minister Syarwan Hamid, when the latter visited Ambon on May 22, that as of May 21, 1999, 83% of a total of 1,236,235 eligible voters had registered.

Postponement

Apart from Maluku, the upcoming general election may also be postponed in Aceh.

The Aceh provincial elections committee has expressed the hope that KPU will immediately set up a special team and dispatch it to Aceh to find out whether it is possible to organize the election in three districts: Pidie, North Aceh and East Aceh. Rudini had in fact planned to make the visit himself on Friday.

"We hope a special KPU team will shortly come to Aceh to observe (the situation) closely... and decide whether in these three districts the elections can be held as scheduled or should be postponed," chairman of the Aceh provincial elections committee, Farhan Hamid, said in Banda Aceh on May 27.

Elsewhere in the country, despite sections of the communities in East Timor and Irian Jaya calling in February 1999 for an election boycott, preparations in the two provinces have been going on unhindered.

"If a day before D-Day, these areas are declared safe and secure, the elections can be held, but otherwise they won't," Rudini said on May 27.

The former home minister said the decision whether the polls would go ahead in areas vulnerable to rioting or places where security was poor must wait for the recommendation and evaluation of the relevant security organizations.

Simplification

However, Rudini said that from his own observations, several areas where there was fear over security arrangements could still be considered safe and secure. "Even if in some areas the security is bad, it does not mean that the polls must be declared a failure or be postponed nationwide," he noted.

Has anything specific been done to ensure the polls will go on as scheduled?

Deputy secretary-general of the Golkar Party, Mahadi Sinambela, has proposed simplifying the voting process in unrest- prone areas like Aceh and Maluku.

"Golkar is against postponement of the polls in Aceh and Maluku, but we will agree to the relaxing of several election regulations so the polls can still be conducted in these areas," he said on Saturday.

Sinambela, who is a Golkar representative in KPU, said the polls could be postponed only in cases beyond human control, such as the occurrence of a natural disaster.

He said that in cases related to poor security or poor facilities, efforts could still be made to ensure the polls were held.

"A natural disaster is another matter. In the case of poor security, for example, one or two sub-districts will not have the elections.

"One thing that is difficult to understand is why it is beyond the sub-district heads and the local military apparatuses to maintain security for the polls. This is not a state of war, is it?" he said.

If facilities for the polls were absent, KPU had agreed to simplify existing regulations, he said.

If in Maluku, for example, the forms for official reports and ballot counting were in insufficient supply, Xeroxing of the documents was permissible, he said.

"The General Elections Commission (KPU) does not even bother (about questions) about whether Xeroxed documents are illegal. It does not matter whether the forms are Xeroxed, handwritten or typed, because what matters is the success of the election proper."

There are 130 million eligible voters; 86 percent have registered to vote. A total of 390 million ballot papers will be needed, but as many as 413 million copies have been printed.

The KPU has accorded the three Aceh regencies special treatment due to security concerns. Locals, for instance, do not need to register but will be able to register and vote on June 7 simply by producing their residential identity cards.

Locals will also be exempted from ink-marking, to take into account widespread fears they will be harassed because they joined the polls.