Volatile regions face dilemma over elections

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.