Voters question ID cards use in local election
Indra Harsaputra, The Jakarta Post, Surabaya
Objections have been expressed by prospective voters to the requirement for them to present local identity cards to vote in the upcoming direct election of regional heads in East Java.
Rudi, who lives in Surabaya but hails from Sidoarjo, responded to the news that to vote he must hold a local identity card with confusion.
"I have two identity cards, one for Surabaya and the other for Sidoarjo," he told The Jakarta Post recently.
He said the card that was issued in Sidoarjo, his latest place of domicile, is valid. But, he is also registered as a Wisma Menanggal, Surabaya resident, though he had requested last year that the card be revoked.
He obtained the Sidoarjo identity card through the services of a middleman for Rp 300,000 (US$33), despite the fact that only Rp 5,000 is required for such a service by the Population Registration Office in Sidoarjo.
He was registered as a Sidoarjo resident and issued with a card within a day. Without the middleman's services the process could have taken weeks.
"If the regulation on the use of ID cards prevails, I can cast my vote in two places," he said, adding that he could also sell his vote to one of the election candidates.
Harun, a Mojokerto student who lives in Rungkut, Surabaya, said having begun the complicated procedure of getting an ID card issued, he would rather not vote than see it through to the end. Paying Rp 300,000 to avoid the hassle did not appeal to him either.
First, he had to get a letter from the police saying he has no criminal record and a second letter from his village administrative office.
After obtaining the letter, he returned to Surabaya because, according to the Mojokerto village administration, the letter could be used to prove that he had once stayed in Mojokerto.
However, in Surabaya, the letter was considered insufficient documentation for him to be issued with an ID card and a letter from his previous village administration was requested.
This proved to be another obstacle, though, as his previous ID card from Mojokerto was revoked two years ago.
"I tried to deal with the problem at the village administrative office at my place of residence, but I was led on a wild goose chase. The rules are not clear," Harun said.
He said that as the government was asking voters to present local ID cards, it must make the application process for ID cards faster and less expensive.
East Java administration official Chusnul Arifin said the administration was taking steps to expedite the process of ID card issuance and has conducted a census to prevent people from having two ID cards.
The East Java General Elections Commission expects to receive data from the census by Feb. 28.
Asked about the possibility of manipulation during the data entry process, Chusnul claimed "the public will be invited to monitor the process, so I think that can be avoided".
"The decision on ID cards should not be contested anymore because it has been stipulated in Law No. 6/2005 on the direct election of regional heads," she said.
She added that under the law, a prospective voter can vote in the region where their ID card was issued, even if they retain a seasonal ID card (Kipem)," said Chusnul.