Indonesians Flock to Hong Kong's Victoria Park for Voting

Hong Kong (Antara) - Indonesians living in Hong Kong cast their votes for parliamentary election on Sunday by coming to 12 voting booths that the local Overseas Election Committee members have set up in Victoria Park. The voting booths were opened for three hours from 09.00 am local time, said Indarto Nata, head of Sales and Marketing of Telekomunikasi Indonesia International Hong Kong Limited (Telin Hong Kong). Located in Causeway Bay and surrounded by tall buildings, this public park is popular for about 160,000 Indonesians living in the city, including tens of thousands of migrant workers. "The voting is held ahead to the scheduled national legislative election on April 9 because a lot of Indonesians have their day off on Sunday (March 30)," Indarto Nata said. The voting was not only held in Hong Kong but also in other cities in China, such as Beijing and Shanghai. According to Chairman of Beijing's Overseas Election Committee (PPLN) Sugeng Wahono, 1,186 registered voters came to polling stations at the Indonesian embassy here and consulates in other cities in China. For 517 registered voters living outside Beijing, they sent their paper ballots by mail. "We had even prepared a drop box for our citizens in Tianjin and we had picked the box on March 23," he said. Wahono said there were two voting booths at the Indonesian embassy, and Indonesians living in such other cities as Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Macau were also provided with polling stations, he said. Indonesians, whose names are not available in the final voter list, remain able to cast their votes at the polling stations by showing their identity cards, he said. "We open the ballot booths from 09.00 am to 04.00 pm local time," he said adding that the voters' votes would be included in the electoral area of DKI Jakarta II, consisting of Central Jakarta and South Jakarta. The General Election Commission's (KPU) Commissioner Ferry Kurnia Rizkiyansyah revealed earlier that the main reason for holding the voting in Beijing, Hong Kong and Shanghai on March 30 was related to weather situation in the three cities in early April. According to the KPU, Indonesians living in Brasilia, Copenhagen and Santiago also cast their votes on Sunday. About 2.2 million Indonesian voters abroad have chances to cast their vote between March 30 and April 6 or ahead to the scheduled national legislative election on April 9. (*) Reported by Slamet Hadi Purnomo