Early in 2024 (1/13), Taiwan had just held presidential elections, which were won by Lai Ching-te from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). Through the presidential election that day, it was evident that Taiwanese people's awareness of politics was not only dominated by adults but also young people. Apart from that, it can be proven by the large number of content uploaded on social media on election day. Responses in conversations related to politics and their struggle to return home to vote are also clear evidence that Taiwan's presidential election is an important matter.

Regarding the holding of Taiwan's presidential election, Indonesia is also looking forward to the presidential election, which will be held in February (2/14). In contrast to Taiwanese people who cannot exercise their right to vote while abroad, the Indonesian government facilitates the voting rights of its citizens abroad. More clearly, through the General Election Commission (KPU), Indonesia forms and supervises special election committees for elections abroad, usually called Overseas Election Committees (PPLN), in various countries; including Taiwan. Around 300,000 Indonesians reside in Taiwan.  

In its duties, PPLN provides several voting methods that voters can choose from, such as using postal services and providing a special place to conduct direct voting. However, the implementation of Indonesian elections abroad shows many shortcomings, and their urgency needs to be re-evaluated.

Poor Performance

Recently, news related to the Indonesian Election originating from Taiwan has often become a topic of discussion with a negative context. For example, ballot papers were sent too early in December 2023. From the explanation, this happened because PPLN in Taiwan was worried about the unavailability of postal services due to holidays, considering that the Indonesian election schedule was close to the Chinese New Year holiday schedule. However, such an innocent answer cannot be immediately justified, considering that the committee formed cannot only contain new people with no experience or ability. 

More specifically, in the committee structure, there must be Indonesians who work at the Indonesian Economic and Trade Office to Taipei (KDEI), students, and migrant workers; which one of whom has the ability to communicate with the post office using either Mandarin or English. Unfortunately, this incident seems to be normalized. Joko Widodo, the president of Indonesia, appeared to accept the explanation and forwarded it to the public.

If PPLN had been provided with education and regulations related to elections by the KPU, the incidents that had occurred would have been done intentionally and consciously. The reasons could be various, for example, due to the committee's less than optimal performance in carrying out its duties, considering that some of them are students and workers. It is also possible that the incident aimed to complete their work more quickly. This certainly makes sense considering that at the end of the year, where the incident occurred, students have many academic-related assignments towards the end of the semester, while workers have high work targets from the company where they work towards the end of the year.

Considering the arrogance of the PPLN in Taiwan, who seem reluctant to admit that sending ballot papers too early was their fault, in the future, the Indonesian government must emphasize and tighten qualifications in PPLN recruitment. However, PPLN, as a special committee formed for elections abroad, receives a salary from the Indonesian Government, which comes from citizens' taxes. Therefore, the formation of PPLN should be maximized. If necessary, bring in or employ people from Indonesia specifically rather than employing Indonesian students or migrant workers in Taiwan who have the potential to not be optimal at work; or maybe just money-oriented.

(Source: Shutterstock)

Urgency Considerations

Apart from being detrimental to the country and causing commotion in Indonesia, Taiwan, and other countries, the impact of PPLN's negligence in Taiwan in sending ballot papers earlier than scheduled has created new problems. For example, some voters can get two ballots at once, which will likely be misused. Apart from that, recently, there was also news circulating that said that a voter had received his ballot and had already used it to choose one of the presidential candidates.

Responding to many problems related to Indonesian elections abroad, which has happened before, apart from maximizing the formation of committees, reviewing and reconsidering policies is something that the Indonesian government might do. The Taiwanese government's policy of not providing elections for Taiwanese from abroad could be a new policy option for the Indonesian government, considering that holding elections abroad certainly costs much money; and that can double when something goes wrong.

In fact, Indonesians who live abroad definitely have particular purposes, for example, studying or working. With a reality like this, they may follow the socio-political developments in Indonesia poorly. Moreover, they could just become political commodities for one of the candidates. With these possibilities, the budget used to hold elections abroad would be better diverted to more essential state needs, such as increasing the protection of Indonesian citizens abroad or other policies.

If the Indonesian government currently does not provide elections for its citizens abroad as Taiwan does, the implementation of Indonesian elections domestically still looks better and could be considered by the Taiwanese government for the next elections. In this case, if the Taiwanese government wants to focus on domestic voters, they should be able to facilitate prison inmates to vote, as the Indonesian government does. According to Yi Hsiang-Shih (施逸翔), Secretary General of the Taiwan Association for Human Rights, voting by correspondence could be an option to protect better the voting rights of disadvantaged people, such as prison inmates and people with physical and mental disabilities who have limited mobility. In conclusion, government policies regarding elections must not stop after being ratified but must be reviewed, evaluated, and even revised if necessary.

(This piece reflects the author's opinion, and does not represent the opinion of CommonWealth Magazine.)

About the author:

Hasan Basri Maulana Firmansyah (傅翰森) is a doctoral student majoring in Mechanical Engineering at National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology, researcher and freelance writer who is active in various social, artistic and cultural activities.

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