TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Migrant workers lack access to vote: Rights body
People display evidence of vote-buying to reporters at the local office of the elections supervisory committee in Huangobotu village in Bone Bolango regency, Gorontalo
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
P
span class="caption">People display evidence of vote-buying to reporters at the local office of the elections supervisory committee in Huangobotu village in Bone Bolango regency, Gorontalo. On the day before the Dec. 9 regional election, one candidate allegedly distributed banknotes along with letters asking people to vote for him. The committee received 27 complaints from voters who felt intimidated by the candidate.(JP/Syamsul Huda Suhari)
The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) has called on lawmakers to find a solution to migrant workers who were disenfranchised in the Dec. 9, 2015 regional elections.
"Many people lost their right to vote because they were working away from home. They couldn't return home as they had no money and the local general elections commissions immediately erased their data," said Komnas HAM commissioner Dianto Bachriadi at a discussion at the Komnas-HAM office on Monday.
Simultaneous regional elections were held for the first time in 269 regions -- nine provinces, 36 cities and 224 regencies ' to elect governors, mayors and regents and their respective deputies. One hundred million people voted in the elections. The next round of regional elections will be in 2017.
The lack of accessibility not only affect those working abroad but also people working in places in the country far from their hometowns .
The commission has called on lawmakers to avoid a repeat of the condition by revising the Regional Elections Law while considering the human rights perspective.
"On a human rights perspective, the implementation of the elections must meet several principles: free, fair, periodically implemented and genuine."
Meanwhile, National General Elections Commission (KPU) chairman Husni Kamil Manik said he had little to offer as a solution.
"If someone wanted to vote, they could have returned home and just shown their ID," he said, adding that the commission had no capacity to facilitate migrant workers wanting to exercise their right to vote. (vps/bbn)
