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View all search resultsHouse races against time to re-check data for local polls
The House of Representatives has less than six months to re-verify citizenship data to prevent polling list conflicts in this year’s local elections
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T
he House of Representatives has less than six months to re-verify citizenship data to prevent polling list conflicts in this year’s local elections.
Polling registration problems during the 2009 general and presidential elections drew extensive protests from political parties and the public alike, prompting the legislature to attempt to curb irregularities in the coming polls.
Among the most widespread problems in the 2009 polls was people registering more than once by using different identification cards.
“The government should update its citizenship administration to an online system to prevent anyone from having more than one identity card,” said former DPR member Sayuti Asyathri.
Current legislator and head of DPR Commission II, Burhanudin Napitupulu, urged the double-checking of all previously submitted data. “The House should not simply believe in the data submitted by local governments,” he said on Friday.
According to Sayuti, another problem that needs to be addressed before the mid-year elections is the lack of readiness of local administrations to hold general elections. Most of the administrations experiencing problems are provincial, district or city governments that have been newly formed under the regional expansion mechanism.
Since the beginning of the reform era, Indonesia has added a number of new administrative areas. It now has 33 provinces, 400 regencies, and 92 municipalities.
Sayuti said the trend toward regional expansion was an indication of the failure of the regional autonomy system in which some regions remain excluded from the benefit of local resources.
“There is economic disparity among the various regions, as well as local concern among some ethnic groups that their cultural rights are not being acknowledged,” he added.
Burhanudin said the emergence of new regions necessitated more elections, meaning more expenditure for local administration.
“Besides holding the election, the local government would have to fund all of the activities of the local Election Supervisory Committee,” he said. (rdf)
