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Indonesia strives for higher overseas voter turnout
Civic education: Election Supervisory Committee (Bawaslu) chairman Muhammad explains the ballot monitoring process to Indonesian voters in Hong Kong during a recent workshop on the electoral process and voting procedures co-organized by the Communications and Information Ministry and the Indonesian Consulate General in Hong Kong
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Civic education: Election Supervisory Committee (Bawaslu) chairman Muhammad explains the ballot monitoring process to Indonesian voters in Hong Kong during a recent workshop on the electoral process and voting procedures co-organized by the Communications and Information Ministry and the Indonesian Consulate General in Hong Kong. (JP/Elly Burhaini Faizal) (Bawaslu) chairman Muhammad explains the ballot monitoring process to Indonesian voters in Hong Kong during a recent workshop on the electoral process and voting procedures co-organized by the Communications and Information Ministry and the Indonesian Consulate General in Hong Kong. (JP/Elly Burhaini Faizal)
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span class="inline inline-none">Civic education: Election Supervisory Committee (Bawaslu) chairman Muhammad explains the ballot monitoring process to Indonesian voters in Hong Kong during a recent workshop on the electoral process and voting procedures co-organized by the Communications and Information Ministry and the Indonesian Consulate General in Hong Kong. (JP/Elly Burhaini Faizal)
Government institutions and civil society groups are joining forces to encourage Indonesian citizens living and working abroad to vote in the upcoming election. Overseas voter turnout has been very low in the past, despite the convenience of an absentee ballot system.
Freddy H. Tulung, director general of public information and communication at the Communications and Information Ministry, said low overseas voter turnout has been a major concern in Indonesia.
'This is alarming as robust voter participation is crucial to our democracy,' said Freddy in Causeway Bay, Hong Kong.
Only 23 percent of the total 2.2 million Indonesians who live abroad cast their votes during 2009 election, he added.
Freddy was speaking on the sidelines of a recent two-day event to introduce the election process and voting procedures to Indonesian citizens in Hong Kong, which was co-held by the ministry and the Indonesian Consulate General (KJRI) Hong Kong, with support from charitable foundation Dompet Dhuafa.
Overall, there has been a trend of decreasing voter turnout in Indonesia. In the 2009 elections, only 71 percent of citizens with the right to vote cast their ballots, down from 84 percent in 2004 and 93 percent in 1999. With such a constant decline, the voter participation rate could stand at only around 60 percent in 2014 and be less than 50 percent in 2019, the General Elections Commission (KPU) has said.
Hidayat Nur Wahid, a lawmaker with the Muslim-based Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), said voter turnout worldwide was in decline, but in Indonesia over 50 percent of eligible voters cast their votes in elections.
'Voter participation in Indonesia is still above 60 percent. This should be maintained,' Hidayat said. 'This presents a good perspective on the issue of the effective representation of Indonesian people in legislative and executive bodies.'
Freddy said there had been a lot of speculation concerning the cause of the decline in voter turnout. In Hong Kong, for instance, low turnout is usually attributed to a lack of knowledge on voter registration procedures, meaning that many citizens who are eligible to vote are not registered.
'Some people say that going to work is worth far more than going to polling stations, while others say they cannot find candidates that closely match their policy preferences,' said Freddy.
Masitoh Bustomi, 35, an Indonesian domestic helper working in New Territories, Hong Kong, said that voting was actually quite easy in Hong Kong.
'With the existing absentee ballot system, we can easily cast our votes,' she said.
Many Indonesians, especially those who are living in remote areas such as Mong Kok, Tsuen Wan, Tsim Sha Tsui and Tai Po, however, are yet to be registered due to a lack of voter information being provided by the Overseas Election Committee (PPLN) and KJRI Hong Kong. Voter information letters were mailed by the KJRI and the PPLN to all Indonesian voters, but most reportedly wound up in garbage bins.
For this year's election, 102,000 of the total of 150,000 Indonesian citizens in Hong Kong ' the majority of whom are women, with more than 90 percent of them being domestic workers ' are registered to vote.
The poll for the legislative election will be held on March 30 in Hong Kong, which falls on a Sunday, meaning that those working and living there will be the first Indonesians to cast their votes in the election.
Worldwide, polling stations are open for absentee voters between March 30 and April 6, just a few days before the scheduled national election on April 9.
PPLN chairman Arief Wahyudi said that new political figures who are among the candidates tipped to run in the presidential election, such as Jakarta Governor Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo, had attracted more voting-age Indonesian citizens in Hong Kong to register for the 2014 poll.
'Jokowi is the one figure most voters here [in Hong Kong] have pinned their hopes on,' Arief told The Jakarta Post.
The PPLN Hong Kong office will open 13 polling stations. This year will be different to previous elections as the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region authorities will provide Victoria Park for use as a polling station.
'Many voters prefer to vote through the absentee ballot instead of going to the polling stations because they live in scattered places across Hong Kong,' Arief said.
'But by holding the vote for the legislative election [in conjunction] with various ['¦] performances in Victoria Park, we are sure that this will be a lively polling day,' he went on.
