The Jakarta Post, 2/26/2003 8:10:34 PM
Christian students ask to perform role as general election
watchdog
SURABAYA, East Java (JP): Students from the all-Indonesia Christian higher
education body asked the government and the 2004 general election organizer to
involve them as an election watchdog.
"We want to help make the 2004 general election a success by becoming a
watchdog, as in the 1999 general election," Hendra, coordinator of the Eighth National
Meeting of the Student Institute for All-Indonesian Christian Higher Education
(LKPTKI), told Antara here on Wednesday.
Hendra said that members of LKPTKI had the full right to vote or not, but they agreed
with members of the East Java Students Executive Board (BEM), who stated they
would not cast their ballots if the general elections law were not revised. "It's up to
them whether to vote or not because the right to vote is a right, and is not
compulsory," he said.
On Tuesday, the East Java BEM agreed to refuse to vote in the 2004 general election
in protest at the recently passed general elections law, which they perceived as
undemocratic.
All contents copyright © of The Jakarta Post.
|
