REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, BEIJING -- Indonesia's Consulate General (KJRI) in Hong Kong, China will set up polling stations for Indonesian nationals during the 2018 Regional Elections and the General Election in 2019, an official said. There will be three pooling stations in three different areas.
"The voting stations will be situated at three buildings in Hong Kong Island, Mong Kok, and New Territories. Indonesian nationals living in Hong Kong, now could vote in these venues at April 14 next year," Consul General Tri Haryat said, Tuesday.
Ahead of the elections, Haryat has inaugurated seven members of Overseas Election Committee (PPLN) and three members of Hong Kong PPLN Secretariat, Monday. Besides Committee in Hong Kong, the Indonesian government also has set up two other secretariats in Beijing, Guangzhou, and Shanghai.
These Overseas Elections Committees are scheduled to attend the technical workshop in Beijing on April 22-23.
"The number of eligible voters in Hong Kong reaches 150 thousands people, and we are challenged to bring these thousands of Indonesian nationals to use their political rights during the elections," the consul general said.
Hence, the Indonesian government representative in Hong Kong has committed to provide all facilities to assure that the eligible voters will attend the polls.
"Our Facebook fanpage (KJRI Hong Kong) now has some 87 thousand followers, and we think this social media account is an effective platform to spread news and updates on the elections, mainly for the voters living in Hong Kong and Macau," Hayat noted.
Apart of the Facebook, the Consul General hopes the Overseas Election Committees would seek for another platform to assure that the number of voters would reach the target 51 percent during the elections.
During the 2014 election, some two thousands of Indonesian nationals admitted that they could not use their votes, because the polling station at Victoria Park was closed at 5 p.m. local time.