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)