T

he Pontianak General Elections Commission (KPUD) has been utilizing Facebook as a way to disseminate information on regional elections.

The KPUD’s provincial office has set Sept. 20 as the date for the West Kalimantan gubernatorial electionsand mayoral vote for Singkawang, one of the 14 regencies and municipalities in the province.

As one of 14 KPUDs at the regency or municipal level, KPUD Pontianak launched a Facebook status competition to disseminate information about the elections to attract young voters and Internet users.

“Out of about 468,000 voters in this city, between 10 and 15 percent are young voters. We hope they will participate,” KPUD Pontianak head Viryan Azis said Thursday.

Viryan said that the themes for the status writing competition included inviting citizens to exercise their right to vote, reminding the public to register to vote, turning down money politics and the importance of education for quality elections.

“We created this competition in line with the significant use of social media, where everybody can become share their thoughts without any sensor,” Viryan said.

He said that the competition should not be used to promote specific candidates, contain issues linked to ethnicity, religion, tribal affiliation, nor to insult certain groups or individuals.

The competition is scheduled to run from June 15 to July 15. KPUD Pontinak will provide three winners with Rp 3 million (US$318) in cash.

The regional elections in West Kalimantan are projected to cost Rp 132.8 billion, of which 87 percent will be allocated for the regency/city elections.

KPUD West Kalimantan chairman AR Muzammil said that funding for programs to encourage young voters had been allocated at the regency and municipal level.

People Movement Empowerment Institute director Furbertus Ipur said that the responsibility to educate people on elections rested on the shoulders of the KPU and political parties. However, since they had failed to do so, political education now required the participation of NGOs.

He expressed confidence that electoral turnout in the province would remain near 70 percent as in earlier years.

“We created the program to help educate the public on the importance of the regional elections,” said Fubertus, regarding the Facebook status competition he created.

Four pairs of gubernatorial candidates have registered for the September poll, including the incumbent governor Cornelis.