Susan Sim, Ujung Pandang – More than two thirds of the 131 million Indonesians eligible to vote in June have registered to do so in the country's first voluntary voter-registration drive, electoral planners said.
And this high sign-up rate, despite a shaky start three weeks ago, could augur well for the major opposition parties, some of their leaders predicted.
Said Mr Jakob Tobing of the Megawati Soekarnoputri-led PDI-P Party which, according to most pundits, is the most likely front-runner:
"Compared to the short time we've had to prepare, 60-80 per cent is quite high in terms of voter registration. This shows that people are quite politicised. PDI-P supporters tend to come from this politicised segment of society."
A list of the latest enfranchisement figures across the 27 provinces seen by The Straits Times showed a sign-up rate of 70- 90 per cent in the provinces considered PDI-P strongholds – Bali and Central and East Java.
Topping the list was South Sulawesi with 98.98 per cent of the nearly five million voters already registered. The home province of President B. J. Habibie, it is considered a Golkar party bulwark although residents told The Straits Times that PDI-P and the Amien Rais-led PAN were making inroads.
But where the ruling party expects to do well in the provinces east of Java, registration appeared to be slow, with four yet to post returns, including riot-torn Maluku, Irian Jaya and East Timor.
Voter appeal also appeared to be low in Aceh and Riau, two provinces locked in battle with Jakarta for a greater share of their revenues. Their sign-up rates of around 20 per cent were the lowest posted.
Analysts note, however, that low voter interest in these provinces can be more beneficial to the ruling party with its better-geared mobilisation network.
A greater challenge for the Habibie government, which wants to create Indonesian history by conducting the first free and fair polls, is ensuring that any campaign violence does not erupt into firestorms which will deter people from going out to cast their ballots.
Thereafter comes its most important test – convincing the public that the victor did not win by fraud nor the loser lose because of interference by the bureaucracy and the military.
Speaking to The Straits Times yesterday at the end of a three-day swing through West Timor, Lombok, Bali and South Sulawesi, Interior Minister Syarwan Hamid said he hoped to persuade Indonesians to accept the poll results by making the ongoing preparations transparent to all.
Political parties and grassroots organisers were all encouraged to report any violations and complain about the process itself, an opportunity many seized upon at a long dialogue session here with the minister and the head of the national election commission, Rudini, yesterday morning.
The government also hoped that the presence of both domestic and international poll monitors would assure voters that no fraud had been perpetuated.
"The important thing is that we will seriously work towards a free and fair election so that there's no opportunity for people to blame us. Not like before," Mr Syarwan said.
He was alluding to what Golkar cadres and officials are beginning to acknowledge was massive vote-buying and intimidation in previous polls to ensure that the ruling party won by massive majorities.
Said one official: "There isn't going to be another case where Golkar wins 100.5 per cent of the vote! That really happened in one south-east Sulawesi district in 1971 because officials manipulated an excessive number of ballot papers."