Uphold Honesty During Regional Elections
JAKARTA, KOMPAS — The concurrent local elections in 101 regions on Wednesday (15/2) are part of the nation’s test toward becoming a more qualified democracy. Honesty and security during voting and ballot counting are crucial during the local elections this time.
Honesty and security during elections have become the real challenge after no serious technical problems that could disrupt the elections have been found.
According to the General Elections Commission (KPU), technically, the local elections could be held on Wednesday in 101 regions. As of yesterday, the preparation had reached 97 percent. There had been no reports of fatal disruptions in the regions. Internet networks were also safe and connected to the regional KPU offices.
Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Wiranto said the government had worked optimally to make the 2017 regional elections safe, orderly, smooth and successful. However, a smooth regional election was the responsibility of all, including the candidates and their supporters.
Therefore, Wiranto demanded that candidate pairs and their supporters be positive and uphold honesty during voting and ballot counting.
“These regional elections are part of the nation’s honor as it develops into a dignified democracy,” Wiranto said on Tuesday (14/2) at the Presidential Palace in Jakarta.
All processes during the regional elections in 2017, 2015 and in 2018 will be precious input for the concurrent elections in 2019. By examining these regional elections, the House of Representatives and the government are expected to be able to issue the best regulations for the 2019 presidential and legislative elections.
“So far, we have seen concurrent executive and legislative elections only. They have been implemented this way for efficiency. In fact, the purpose is not only efficiency but to build a system,” said Elections Organizer Honorary Council chair Jimly Asshiddiqie.
More expensive
The KPU allocated Rp 4.4 trillion to organize the 2017 regional elections. Meanwhile, the Elections Supervisory Body (Bawaslu) budget was Rp 966 billion, higher than that of the 2015 concurrent elections. During the 2015 elections in 269 regions, in which there were 96.8 million voters, the KPU spent Rp 5.59 trillion and Bawaslu spent Rp 865 billion.
KPU commissioner Arief Budiman said there had been no study on the reason for the 2017 elections being proportionally more expensive than those in 2015. But he thought it was partly because of geographic factors as there were regions with difficult terrains in the 2017 elections that made it more costly.
Although there had been a budget increase, Bawaslu member Daniel Zuchron said generally the preparations for the 2017 elections had been better than those of the 2015 elections.
He said that potential problems that could be reported by the polling station supervisors in regencies and cities related to notification letters from the population and civil registry offices that had not been received by supervisors. There were also cases where voting invitations did not show the voter’s name or the invitation had been printed twice. There were also reports of money politics and involvement of state apparatuses.
Alleged money politics had taken place in Pati, Central Java. As of yesterday, there had been 10 reports of money politics in Pati with evidence of money ranging from Rp 10,000 to Rp 50,000 inside envelopes.
Pati election supervisor chair Achwan said there was the possibility of money politics. “It could have been by the candidate pair, the group supporting the blank box or gambling coordinators,” he said. In Pati, the election has only one candidate pair.
Money politics are also real threats in some other regions, such as Bangka Belitung. Bangka Belitung Bawaslu detected 600 polling stations, or 22.5 percent of 2,698 polling stations, in the province were prone to irregularities. The supervisory body came to that conclusion as money politics had been found ahead of voting during previous elections, as well as poll organizers who were not neutral.
Bangka Belitung Bawaslu member Sugesti Sukardi said Bawaslu had found some evidence of money politics in the previous elections, such as Rp 25,000 of rice being distributed in Pangkal Pinang during the cooling-off period. The vulnerable period was during voting day, particularly from midnight to 11 a.m.
Disturbances
Natural disasters such as floods also threaten the regional elections. As many as 27 polling stations in Pati, Central Java, were relocated due to flooding in some areas.
Floods also hit some regencies in Banten, including Pandeglang and Lebak, last Thursday. In Pandeglang, floods inundated 21 villages in eight districts, while in Lebak floods and landslides hit 96 villages in 20 districts.
However, the floods had receded yesterday and would not disrupt the elections in Banten. All the elections logistics had been distributed.
Meanwhile, a suspicious item, thought to be a bomb, was found at the Regional Development Planning (Bappeda) office in West Aceh, Aceh yesterday. Aceh Police spokesperson Sr. Comr. Gunawan said the suspicious item was found by a staffer with the West Aceh Bappeda at 9 a.m. and the office reported it to the police.
“We exploded the material. It was a cardboard box measuring 40-by-30-by-15 centimeters. We confirmed it was not a bomb,” Gunawan said.
To maintain security during the Aceh gubernatorial election and the elections in 20 regencies and cities in Aceh, the Aceh Police were implementing maximum security. “Security in Aceh is under control,” Gunawan added.
People\'s participation
To welcome the regional elections, several residents in the Suryoputran neighborhood, Panembahan sub-district, Kraton district, Yogyakarta paraded through the neighborhood to remind residents to take part in the elections and avoid money politics.
Based on Kompas observation yesterday, dozens of Suryoputran residents started parading at 2:30 p.m. Carrying banners and hitting kentongan (wooden or bamboo percussion instruments) they walked around the neighborhood calling for their elections in Yogyakarta.
“Ojo lali tanggal limo las [Please do not forget on Feb. 15,” they called, reminding residents to vote on Feb. 15.
One resident in the parade, Anik Sudaryati, 51, said the activity was aimed at encouraging residents to take part in the elections. “We want to remind residents to vote at the polling stations. As a good citizen, please do not be absent,” she said.
Another Suryoputran resident, Indaryanto, 49, said local residents had improved patrolling for the last four days to detect money politics and black campaigns. This was being done to prevent alleged black campaigns, like that in 2011 in which unknown people distributed brochures attacking one of the candidates.
Meanwhile, to prevent cheating and violations at polling stations, some civil groups in West Papua will voluntarily participate in supervising the elections. Jaga Papua Community chair Filep Wamafma in Manokwari, West Papua, yesterday said he had instructed 300 members in representative offices in West Papua to supervise the polling stations on voting day.
Filep said each representative from the Jaga Papua Community would go to the neighborhoods to campaign for a democratic election free of irregularities.
He added each volunteer from the representative offices would report their findings to Jaga Papua. “We will follow this up by reporting to the police and Bawaslu. Our community group employs high-ranking officers from the West Papua Police and the poll organizers,” Filep added.
(TIM KOMPAS)