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We could have saved poll workers from death
With so many lives lost, can we just simply conclude “exhaustion” was the cause? Speculation about the real culprits of the cases has gone too far — there is a conspiracy theory that claims the deaths were premeditated.
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Medical team from Lhokseumawe Police in Aceh check the health of polling station working committee (KPPS) officers in Muara Dua district office in Lhokseumawe, Aceh on Wednesday, April 24, 2019. The checkup was taken to all officers including KPPS, security personnel, district election commitees (PPK), members of regional election supervisory committee (Panwaslu) and witnesses following a surge of elections officers who died and gotten ill from exhaustion during their duties on April 17 poll day. (Antara/Rahmad)
M
asnun and her husband Abdul Rochim went through hectic days in the lead up to and after the elections on April 17, billed as the biggest single-day polls in the world. For the first time ever, Indonesians turned up for the simultaneous presidential and legislative elections.
Five days ahead of the polls, Masnun helped her husband and their fellow local poll administrator (KPPS) volunteers circulate letters to about 300 eligible voters in the neighborhood in Bekasi, east of Jakarta, notifying them of when and where to cast ballots.
The volunteers were also responsible for setting up a polling station, in addition to administering the voting. Their preparations began a few months back after the General Elections Commission (KPU) appointed them among 7 million KPPS members across the country.
On the election day, the couple, like other poll workers, worked round the clock, starting at 6 a.m. or an hour before voting commenced at 7.
After the balloting closed at 1 p.m. they proceeded to a more daunting task of counting votes and manually filled in the results and other related information into dozens of forms.
When they finished the administrative work at around midnight, they took the ballot boxes to a collection point for a final check by the district election committee. The whole process only finished at 10 a.m. the next day.
Masnun, however, was luckier than her husband. Four days after the elections, he was admitted to an intensive care unit after complaining about chest pain. He died not long after due to heart failure.
