Paul Walters

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17,000 Islands, 800,000 Polling Stations, 193,000,000 Voters & 250,000 Candidates. It’s Election Day In Indonesia!

17,000 Islands, 800,000 Polling Stations, 193,000,000 Voters & 250,000 Candidates. It’s Election Day In Indonesia!


Its 9.30am on Wednesday 17th April 2019.

Today is voting day across the vast archipelago that makes up the nation of Indonesia. Its eerily quiet with just the occasional motorcycle whizzing by, whereas, normally at this time of the morning the streets would be packed.

It’s a national holiday and, over the course of the next six to eight hours one hundred and ninety - three million citizens will dutifully head to their nearest polling station to exercise their democratic right!

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This is the biggest, most complex one-day election on the planet and the logistics of running an event of this magnitude are truly staggering:

17,000 islands comprising 193,000,000 eligible voters, who will cast their ballot at more than 800,000 polling stations, some of which are in extremely remote areas of the country. India, of course, is a bigger democracy with some 900,000,000 million voters however their elections are held over a more relaxed period of six weeks.

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Of the eligible Indonesians registered to vote, more than half are aged 40 or under in what is the world’s third-largest democracy after India and the US.

Democracy here is relatively young and elections since the ’60s have become a rather colourful and celebratory affair, described locally as “pesta demokrasi”, or “democracy party”.

Today’s vote will be the world’s biggest direct presidential election (unlike in the US where that nation has an indirect electoral college system), and to make things even more interesting or complex, this year the voting process has been made even more gargantuan than normal, with presidential and parliamentary elections being held on the same day for the first time.

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At the 809,500 polling stations, Indonesian voters will be choosing from more than 250,000 candidates for 20,538 legislative seats at five levels of government. And all of this will take place over a period of just six hours.

While voters will be marking five boxes on their ballot papers, much of the national and indeed the world’s attention will focus is on the presidential race.

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The incumbent is Joko Widodo,  better known as “Jokowi”, a former furniture businessman turned politician from Java, flanked by his vice-presidential running mate Ma’ruf Amin, a 76-year-old conservative Islamic cleric.

Jokowi is up against Prabowo Subianto,  a bit of a fired-up nationalist who is an ex-special forces serviceman who, until a few years ago held a high ranking position in the Indonesian military. He is also the former son-in-law of Indonesia’s long-time leader Suharto. Probowo has teamed up with Sandiaga Uno, a wealthy former investment banker who was briefly deputy governor of Jakarta.

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This year’s vote is basically a rematch between the two political rivals. Five years ago, in a bitterly fought divisive presidential election, Jokowi defeated Prabowo by six percentage points.

The run-up to these elections has been relatively peaceful and dare I say it, altogether cordial. It is astonishing to witness the passion of Indonesian voters who cram into giant stadiums to hear their preferred candidate speak. The sheer numbers would make some of the largest touring rock groups green with envy.

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All Indonesians, aged 17 or over who hold an electronic identification card, known as an e-KTP, have the right to vote. Those who are married can vote at a younger age – the legal age for girls to marry is 16. The only groups excluded from voting are police and military officers, who, by law are obliged to stay politically neutral.

The electronic identity card requirement means that some in remote or underdeveloped areas will, unfortunately, miss out. In Kalimantan on the island of Borneo, many of the remote tribes will be ineligible to vote as they are not registered.

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It is the same in the most easternmost province of Papua, where less than 50% of eligible voters have an electronic identity card. On some of the more remote islands around the country, it is estimated that more than 1.6 million indigenous people may not be able to vote for the same reason.

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In a first for ‘democracy,’ in the mountainous regions of Papua, some tribes employ a voting bloc system known as noken, in which a chief of the village represents the communal voice of the tribe.

Given the difficult geographical makeup of the country, getting ballots to remote areas can prove to be a bit of a challenge. Reaching Indonesia’s far-flung regions means every conceivable mode of transport is employed. Planes, warships, horse and carts, canoes and even in the more mountainous areas, ballot boxes are delivered on foot.

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The logistics of planning and implementing this great day are impressive and of course, things inevitably go wrong.

A week before election day, a vessel carrying 26 sacks of ballot papers sank en route to Natuna, a relatively small regency of several hundred remote islands in the South China Sea.

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Like democratic elections everywhere there is always a concern over alleged irregularities in the electoral roll, with this year the opposition claiming that 17 million voters are registered with the same three birthdays!

In a couple of bizarre incidents, other instances have been found where voters have been registered as born in the first century AD. The election commission is investigating the claims.

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Despite attempts at rampant vote buying, Indonesia’s elections are in general viewed as relatively free and fair, overseen by monitors from 33 countries invited to observe.

Indonesians are incredibly proud of their country and are fierce defenders of their democracy. In many cases today will see thousands of voters remain at their polling stations to watch the count.

All rather refreshing wouldn’t you agree?

Statistics quoted here courtesy of The Guardian, AFT, Jakarta Post and SMH.  My thanks to the journalists involved.


Komentar

Bill Stankiewicz

4 tahun yang lalu #24

#20
Ken, I am from Chicago & miss UNOs Pizza 🍕👍👍👍👍👍+ Giordonos, Lou Malinotti, sorry on typos riding on my bicycle at Tybee Beach 🏖 , Georgia , slow going in the sand on my Black Phantom Schwinn bicycle 🚲 , KEEP BUZZING MY FRIENDS 👫👍👍👍🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🚲🚲🚲

Bill Stankiewicz

4 tahun yang lalu #23

#22
I Agree Wow x 1000

Paul Walters

4 tahun yang lalu #22

#23
Shocking? Not really, the same numbers exist in the USA except here people actually believe that their vote counts !
It's all rather confusing.

Jim Murray

4 tahun yang lalu #20

Wow. Just plain wow.

Jerry Fletcher

4 tahun yang lalu #19

Paul, The numbers are frightening. As usual the sheer logistics force folks to think about how to rig it. Given what I've seen here in the USA , the party in power will do all they possibly can to remain so and then have the audacity to claim they are just trying to assure an "honest election." I must agree with mark Twain: If we would learn what the human race really is at bottom, we need only observe it in election times." And so it goes

Ken Boddie

4 tahun yang lalu #18

#13
yes, Paul. Currently in Cilacap, but off back to Yogya this weekend for my niece’s wedding, then a trip to East Java including Gunung Bromo.

Paul Walters

4 tahun yang lalu #17

#16
CityVP \ud83d\udc1d Manjit Ah, I love your well thought out replies and comments. Voter fraud occurs everywhere but I do feel that the majority rules here. The normally busy streets here yesterday were empty as millions made their way to exercise ( in good faith) their democratic tight. If we all believe that good will triumph over adversity what a wonderful planet it could be.

Paul Walters

4 tahun yang lalu #16

#15
Lisa Vanderburg My Tardiness in not quoting sources was a poor oversight since corrected. Thank you. Optimism is perhaps a sentiment that I live my life by and all in all it is a belief that keeps me sane! After living among these people for almost a decade I have seen the swing to them striving for what is good in the world. Sometimes, outside scepticism can fuel unwanted pessimism that this country certainly doesn't want or indeed need. Positivity breeds HOPE !

Bill Stankiewicz

4 tahun yang lalu #15

WOW

CityVP Manjit

4 tahun yang lalu #14

Placing 26 sacks of ballots onto a flimsy boat is an accident just waiting to happen. No doubt that as Joko claims victory, Prabowo will challenge the election in the courts. There is one thing that Pabowo is associated with the military but having learned that he is son-in-law of Suharto - it has all the recipes of stirring the pot about legitimacy. Examples that I read about of voter fraud have voters names that according to Indonesian's media outlets, some voters were said to be born at the start of the first century. Then there is tribes people, for whom it is quite amazing that the election system can bring them into the public decision and voting process, but it also opens up the very questions as to who is voting because they understand a democratic system, and who is voting without a clue as to what representative democracy is about, though with a vote turnout of above 75% those are impressive turnout numbers for a country where voting is not compulsory. http://www.electionguide.org/countries/id/102/

Lisa Vanderburg

4 tahun yang lalu #13

https://www.ft.com/content/d3e696aa-5d1b-11e9-9dde-7aedca0a081a A FT article. But, nobody beyond reproach especially in politics!

Lisa Vanderburg

4 tahun yang lalu #12

The numbers are staggering; the logistics a nightmare...to me anyhoo. Looks like the incumbant won? At least they don't have 'hanging chads' like the 2000 US elections :) I sincerely hope you're right in your optimism Paul Walters, not that I know!

Paul Walters

4 tahun yang lalu #11

#10
Ken Boddie You are in Indonesia ?

Ian Weinberg

4 tahun yang lalu #10

#8
I have no idea Paul. I’ll try and connect with him after Easter. Perhaps he’s writing an opus magnus....

Ian Weinberg

4 tahun yang lalu #9

#7
Initially Seminyak then Ubud. Thanks for the generous offer but I’m booked into hotels atvrespective venues.

Ken Boddie

4 tahun yang lalu #8

We were in Yogya during election day, Paul, and the traffic around the downtown area was reportedly ‘macet’ until at least late morning. But there again it’s hard to tell the difference between normal traffic chaos here and chaotic traffic chaos. Needless to say we headed in the opposite direction. Judging by the reaction of our family and friends here, the result appears to have been almost boringly predictable. But sometimes boring is a good thing.

Paul Walters

4 tahun yang lalu #7

Ian Weinberg What has happened to Gert.?..he seems to have retreated to ...well somewhere

Paul Walters

4 tahun yang lalu #6

Ian Weinberg Well Bali bound and I SA bound in June... typical! Was hoping to catch up while I am there ...cest la vie ! Where are you staying? We have a fabulous house sitting empty while we are away.. you are more than welcome to rest your weary heads here if you like.

Paul Walters

4 tahun yang lalu #5

#3
Kim Wheeler Well maybe I am a little naive but I like to think so. After many years here I see much positive change. Too much negativity isn't really my bag

Pascal Derrien

4 tahun yang lalu #4

I had not realised the degree of geographical fragmentation was to such that extent :-) Mind blowing

Ian Weinberg

4 tahun yang lalu #3

Fascinating stuff Paul Walters See you in Bali in June (do you have a spare hammock?)

Paul Walters

4 tahun yang lalu #1

Gert Scholtz

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