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INDONESIA-VOTE,SCENE
Indonesia lures voters with ghouls, superheros and tons of fun
SURABAYA, Indonesia, April 17, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Dressed like Count Dracula,
Yasim Adnan doesn’t look much like an election official, but neither do his
staff who are decked out as mummies and spooky nuns with blood pouring from
their eyes.
The 37-year-old Indonesian presided over one of the creepiest ballot
stations in the Muslim majority country Wednesday as it held a giant election
that featured some 190 million voters and 245,000 candidates vying for public
office, including a new president.
To bolster turnout at some 800,000 polling booths nationwide, election
officials pulled out all the stops, from dressing like ghouls and superheroes
to enlisting the help of elephants in Sumatra.
In Lebak Bulus, in the south of the capital Jakarta, voters cast their
ballots at Adnan’s horror-themed polling station which was outfitted with
cardboard coffins and blood-stained rags that hung from the ceiling.
Staff were allowed any costume they chose, as long as it didn’t appear to
favour either president Joko Widodo or his re-election rival Prabowo
Subianto.
“We’re trying to attract people so there will be less golput,” Adnan told
AFP, using the Indonesian term for citizens who don’t vote.
It seemed to work for some locals.
“This is amazing – – the theme is so different from other stations,” said
42-year-old Komariah Usia.
There was also a photo booth on hand for successful ballot casters —
whose fingers were dipped in indelible ink to prevent double voting — keen
to snap a picture of themselves as proof of their civic duty.
Some restaurants and other retailers were offering free food and drink to
those held up their ink-stained finger as proof they voted.
In Surabaya, Indonesia’s second-biggest city, an Avengers-themed polling
station also proved a hit.
Election officials there dressed as the cartoon superheroes as well as the
Amazing Spiderman, helping disabled voters cast a ballot and pressing fingers
into the Muslim-approved halal ink jars.
“We made it look this way to motivate millennials, especially first-time
voters,” said polling station chief Andilio, who goes by one name.
But he also hoped that staff would take the Avengers costumes to heart by
serving “voters just like how these characters would”.
“Safeguard democracy and the election so it will be smooth, safe, and
peaceful,” he added.
Not to be outdone, officials in Sumatra enlisted the help of three
critically endangered Sumatran elephants to boost voter numbers and raise
awareness about their dwindling numbers in the wild.
The elephants were used to transport cardboard ballot boxes to polling
stations in Central Trumon subdistrict — much to the entertainment of
locals.
“I see everybody came out to the polling station — especially because
there’s elephants,” said 32-year-old Syahrul.
BSS/AFP/ARS/1618 hrs