Voter registration still sluggish on second day

Voter registration still sluggish on second day

JAKARTA (JP): While the second day of voter registration saw
slow progress, chairman of the General Elections Commission
Rudini expressed optimism that despite the slow process of voter
registration which began Monday, within a week people would
throng to nearby Subdistrict Polling Committees.

"You have to understand that delays in several areas are due
to inevitable technical difficulties," he said on Tuesday.

He added that voter registrars would also visit prospective
voters.

"We have such a limited time to prepare all the materials and
promote voter registration," Rudini said.

In the past, it took at least two years to prepare general
elections and a year for voter registration, the retired general
said.

"Now we have to do it in three months. While we are still in
the phase of forming Elections Committees at the provincial,
regional, district and subdistrict level, at the same time voter
registration must begin.

Jacob Tobing, chairman of the National Elections Committee,
said besides distributing registration directives to subdistrict
and district polling committees, his office had printed one
million poll registration directives which would be distributed
to the public through media agencies.

Voters registration will also be conducted on Sunday and other
holidays, Jacob said, "We want to attract more voters and give a
chance to people, especially those in urban areas with very busy
weekdays."

In Purwokerto, Central Java, residents who approached
registration sites still found that officials were not ready.

"I had to ask residents to go home until we are clear about
procedures," Imam Purbadi of the Kedungwuluh subdistrict said,
adding that he had not received any registration forms.

Students did not display enthusiasm, saying they were better
off concentrating on their semester exams.

Not ready

In Surabaya, some subdistrict officials also said they were
not ready. In Malang, registration was not expected to begin
until Friday because forms had yet to reach district, let alone
subdistrict, committees. Thirty subdistricts have yet to form
their committees, while others had staffing shortages.

While it is legal to register with virtually any form of
identification, a number of subdistrict officers rejected
documents such as family cards or driver's licenses, saying the
administration had set up a temporary ID card program for
registration purposes.

In Padang, West Sumatra, only a few subdistricts had begun
registration. The head of the regional registration committee
here, Adi Bermasa, said some 85 percent of registration offices
had yet to be formed. Directives were only received on Saturday,
he said.

In Ujungpandang, South Sulawesi, residents were still confused
over the information on registration, apart from the many
registration committees which had yet to be set up.

Abdul Pattah, 45, said because officers also would approach
voters to assist registration, he did not plan to go to the
committees. Meanwhile, a housewife said she had no intention to
vote, saying she expected Golkar would win again. "I only hope
the elections are safe," Fatma said.

In Semarang, hundreds of students at the Walisongo Institute
of Islamic Studies said they would boycott elections if the
government and the military could not prove to be non-partisan in
the elections. (edt/nur/28/27/45)