Voting Begins

KOMPAS/AGUS SUSANTO

Posters promoting the Indonesian presidential election are on display at the Darwin Elections Committee (PPLN) office in Jakarta on Feb. 5, 2019. The 2019 simultaneous election will be held on April 13 for Indonesian diaspora residing in Australia. PPLN Darwin has 884 voters on its final voters list (DPT), with 827 voters registered to vote at polling stations and 57 voters sending in their ballots through the postal service.

Indonesians abroad have begun voting in the 2019 election. Official wealth reporting (LHKPN) are among the ways of assessing legislative candidates.

JAKARTA, KOMPAS — Around 2 million Indonesians living abroad are to exercise their right to vote in the 2019 election between Monday (8/4/2019) and Sunday (14/4). Despite the overseas voting being held ahead of voting day, voting tabulation will still be done simultaneously on April 17.

Meanwhile, to help voters make informed choices, the General Elections Commission (KPU) and Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) have agreed to announce a list of incumbent legislative candidates and their LHKPN submission status. The list can be accessed at web page https://www.kpk.go.id/id/pantau-lhkpn.

“It is important for us to use this election as an opportunity to improve ourselves. We will make [announcing the submission status of] LHKPN a regular thing,” KPU chair Arief Budiman said at the KPK building in Jakarta on Monday.

Of the 550 lawmakers required to submit their LHKPN, only 351 had done so as of April 8. There are 527 incumbent lawmakers seeking reelection.

Voting

Regarding overseas voting, the KPU has prepared 789 polling stations, 2,326 mobile ballot boxes and 426 post office boxes. Law No. 7/2017 on elections stipulates that overseas voting can be done at polling stations, through mobile ballot boxes or by mail.

On Monday, voting in a polling station was only conducted in Sana’a, Yemen. In other countries, the overseas voting committee (PPLN) sent ballots to voters by registered mail.

Indonesian Ambassador to New Zealand Tantowi Yahya said some voters had sent back their ballots. Meanwhile, some other ballots are still being processed to be delivered to the PPLN in Wellington. “The voting [at polling stations] will be done on April 13,” Tantowi said.

Indonesian Ambassador to Singapore I Gede Ngurah Swajaya said the Indonesian Embassy in Singapore would hold voting on April 14. Fifty voting booths would be prepared to facilitate the 123,000 voters registered at the Singapore PPLN. The Indonesian Embassy will only help prepare the polling station. The Singapore PPLN would be responsible for organizing the voting. The Indonesian Embassy in Kuala Lumpur will also conduct voting at polling stations on April 14.

KPU official Pramono Ubaid Tantowi said overseas voting would be held mostly on April 13 and 14. However, a majority of Indonesian embassies in the Middle East will hold voting on Friday, April 12, as many countries in the region have Friday as a day off.

Pramono explained that in order to ensure the security of marked ballots until voting tabulation on April 17, the KPU would store all ballots in a special storage room in embassies. The storage rooms will be equipped with CCTVs and security guards.

Chair of the working committee for overseas voting, Wajid Fauzi, said ballot shortages were found in Taipei and Hong Kong. However, more ballots are to be sent to the two cities to resolve the matter.

Factions

Regarding the LHKPN submission, the KPK and the KPU on Monday announced the compliance level of 10 factions at the House of Representatives. The NasDem Party faction has the highest compliance level for LHKPN submission. Of its 36 members, 32 members or 88.89 percent have submitted their LHKPN. The Gerindra Party faction has the lowest compliance level, with only 27 out of 69 members (39.13 percent) having submitted their LHKPN.

KPK deputy of prevention Pahala Nainggolan said voters should look at which incumbent legislative candidates had or had not submitted their LHKPN. “The LHKPN is not only about filing a report. It is also about commitment. We will upload the list of who have and who have not reported their LHKPN as a reference for voters,” Pahala said.

Arief said KPU Regulation No. 20/2018 stipulates that the LHKPN be submitted at a maximum seven days after the list of legislators-elect is announced. However, incumbent legislative candidates should have periodically submitted their LHKPN as stipulated by the KPK. They should have submitted their latest LHKPN on March 31, 2019.

Golkar Party secretary-general Lodewijk F. Paulus said there were several moves to encourage legislators and legislative candidates to report their LHKPN, such as by releasing a list of who had submitted their LHKPN.

“In the future, steps must be formulated to push them to file the reports. There must be a reward-and-punishment system. Otherwise, it will always be like this,” Lodewijk said.

He continued that the Golkar Party’s central board would talk about the proper internal mechanism to do this. However, it is likely that the mechanism will only apply to incumbent legislative candidates seeking reelection and not to all legislators of the 2014-2019 period.

A possible form of punishment is by not inaugurating legislative candidates who have yet to submit their LHKPN. “We will force them to submit the report before they are inaugurated. Many are daunted by filling out the report despite it not being complicated,” Lodewijk said.  (IAN/RAZ/MTK/INK/AGE)