Thousands of Indonesians show up to vote in early polls

A celebratory mood was in the air as thousands of Indonesians registered as overseas voters in Malaysia thronged the World Trade Centre (WTC) Kuala Lumpur today to cast early ballots for the republic’s joint legislative and presidential elections.

Organisers from Indonesia’s General Election Supervisory Agency are expecting a turnout of over 100,000 voters from Kuala Lumpur and surrounding states, out of a total of 800,000 registered in Malaysia.

Even with a rule against campaigning on polling day, little appears to be done by monitoring authorities to contain an outpouring show of support for three pairs of presidential candidates - Anies Baswedan-Muhaimin Iskandar, Prabowo Subianto-Gibran Rakabuming, and Ganjar Pranowo-Mahfud Md.

Many raised their fingers according to the candidates’ number signs - one, two or three - while others holding campaign t-shirts and political attributes were banned from bringing the items into the polling stations.

The voter registration, verification and ballot-casting processes began at 8am, forming crowds and queues from outside the building’s entrance. Voting will close at 6pm.

The ballot papers will be simultaneously counted on Feb 14, after the conclusion of Indonesia’s polling day.

WTC KL group managing director Irmohizam Ibrahim said this was the first time the building’s management hosted Indonesian voters.

Previously, the process was conducted at the Indonesian Embassy in Kuala Lumpur.

"Our role as host of a historical moment in Indonesia reflects our openness and readiness, based on past experiences as Malaysia’s largest Covid-19 vaccination centre.

"This shows that this location (WTC KL) can be relied on, not only for international events but also domestically,” said the former Kuala Selangor MP.

In total, there are 223 polling stations set up for voters to cast their ballots.

Five volunteers are assigned to each polling station, with the final step being to ink a voter’s little finger as proof of voting.

Legislative election votes

From a total of 84 election districts that make up 580 seats in Indonesia’s People’s Legislative Assembly, one - Daerah Khas Ibukota (DKI) Jakarta II - is allocated to receive votes from some 1.7 million registered overseas voters, with Malaysia making up the largest diaspora.

At each polling station, voters will be given two sets of ballot papers - one with a total of 125 candidates from 18 political parties, fielded under an “open list proportional system” for seven seats in DKI Jakarta II - and the second to mark their presidential candidates.

The 18 parties also make up three major coalitions supporting a presidential pair.

At the legislative stage, each party will field several candidates according to the allocated number of seats in a district.

This promotes both internal competition for individual votes, as well as between parties vying to secure a minimum four percent threshold from a total of 204,807,222 registered voters, or risk being eliminated from the race.

Among high-profile names include seven incumbents, as well as newcomers Manpower Minister Ida Fauziyah, former frontman of Indonesian rock band Dewa Once Mekel, former youth and sports minister Adhyaksa Dault and senior journalist Prabu Revolusi, giving rise to the term “hell area” by political observers.

Throughout the official campaign period from Nov 28 last year to Feb 10, several DKI Jakarta II candidates and campaign teams for three presidential candidate pairs have made Malaysia a part of their focus areas, given its closer proximity and the number of potential votes.

Campaigning in Indonesia ended yesterday for all candidates and their supporters to observe a three-day “peace period” before going to the polls. - Mkini