VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

As many as 50 thousand Indonesians living in Australia will vote in the upcoming presidential elections said Fakhrido Susilo, Member of the Indonesian Overseas Election Committee in Canberra, Australia. He said most of the Indonesian students, professionals and diplomats currently living in Australia are eligible to vote. The committee has hosted events at university campus’ and advertised within Indonesian communities to encourage as many people as possible to register to vote and exercise their democratic right. 

"We proactively engage with a whole set of different communities. We engage them directly. We initially wanted to make the process online centred by establishing an online platform to register. But, we found it is much more effective to engage with the community directly. Going to the community activities and opening up a booth there. For example, there was student activity during orientation week in which we opened up our booth where we got students to register as voters," said Fakhrido Susilo.

The election in Canberra will be held on Saturday April 13, 2019. Fakhrido Susilo said there are three methods for voting. Votes can be cast through circulating drop box or post office. However, most people have indicated they will vote by going directly to their closest polling station. He also said Indonesians can still register to vote in Australia by contacting the Overseas Elections committee. (VOI/LISA/DP)