VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

In April 2019, Indonesia will hold a democratic party through simultaneous legislative and presidential elections. Various preparations have been made, including for Indonesian people who will cast their vote abroad. Indonesian Ambassador to New Zealand, Tantowi Yahya to the Voice of Indonesia, Thursday (8/16) explained, through the coordination of the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the General Election Commission, an overseas election committee was formed. He hoped that Indonesian citizens in New Zealand, Samoa and the Kingdom of Tonga can participate in the elections.

"Our target is at least 80 percent of Indonesian citizens in New Zealand. That's the target. But we hope we can achieve more than that. Our optimism is based on the good relationship between the Indonesian Embassy and Indonesian citizens in New Zealand. We benefit from technological advances. Nowadays, in social media era, platforms like WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram and others make it easy for us to disseminate information," said Tantowi Yahya.

Ambassador Tantowi Yahya further explained that around 7,000 Indonesians reside in New Zealand. The list of temporary voter candidates is 5,000 Indonesian citizens. Currently, Tantowi Yahya said he is pursuing that all Indonesian citizens can be registered, namely by visiting Indonesian citizens and through social media. He hopes that at least 80 percents of Indonesian citizens will exercise their voting rights. (VOI/Sekar/AHM)