The deaths of over 500 members of polling station working committees across the country and sickness of several thousands of others after fulfilling their electoral duties have not merely brought miseries but have also left a mystery over the causing factors.
Among the polling station workers who passed away are Neneng Kharisma, a resident of Biringbulu Subdistrict in Gowa District, South Sulawesi Province, and Muriah, a resident of Labuhan Haji Barat Subdistrict in South Aceh District, Aceh Province.
Kharisma who was responsible for Polling Station number 004 in Julukanaya Village was reported by Sindonews.com to fall sick by "vomiting blood" on April 18 while doing a vote recapitulation process. This 22-year-old woman then died on May 10.
Muriah, a resident of Peulokan Village in Labuhan Haji Barat Subdistrict, South Aceh District, reportedly died of exhaustion due to the strain of overwork.
Regarding the causes of these polling station workers' deaths and illnesses, the General Elections Commission (KPU) argued that they were related to exhaustion and traffic accidents amid their hectic work schedules.
The government officials and KPU commissioners call those who died while doing their electoral duties as the heroes and heroines of democracy, and each of their heirs is then provided by the government with a compensation payment of Rp36 million.
The payment of compensation for the heirs of the dead polling station workers is appreciated but various elements in the society demand for a credible answer to the causes of their deaths.
Political analyst Rocky Gerung opined that the death toll of those working at the polling stations has been similar to the total number of passengers of a jumbo jet.
Therefore, when speaking at TV One news channel's talkshow program on May 7, he bluntly supported an endeavor of Ani Hasibuan, a medical doctor who voluntarily conducted a research project on the causes of the polling station workers' deaths.
In addition to individuals, like dr.Ani Hasibuan, several reputable institutions have also shown their willingness to conduct thorough and comprehensive studies on the reasons for the deaths of those polling station staff.
Among them are Yogyakarta-based Gadjah Mada University (UGM), National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM), and Jakarta-based Medical Emergency Rescue Committee (MER-C).
On May 5, Gadjah Mada University (UGM) has hinted that it would conduct an interdisciplinary research project to reveal the factors that led to the deaths and illnesses of the polling station working committee members.
According to Abdul Ghaffar, coordinator of the UGM's Working Research Group on General Elections, the research project involving scientists from Medical School, as well as Faculties of Public Health, Psychology, and Social and Political Sciences, would be conducted for several weeks.
In connection with this interdisciplinary research project, Dean of UGM's Faculty of Social and Political Sciences Erwan Agus Purwanto said his university's team members would collaborate with their colleagues from 10 other universities.
Among the public universities that would also be involved in this research project are the University of Indonesia, Lampung University, Airlangga University, and Cendrawasih University.
MER-C has also set up a team for mitigating the 2019 General Elections' health disaster to respond to the cases of dead and sick members of the polling station working committee across the country.
This medical non-governmental organization's presidium chairman, dr.Sarbini Abdul Murad, said the humanity and mitigation measures that MER-C team members would take were not only directed to the sick polling station workers but also to the dead ones.
Thus, the MER-C team would possibly conduct autopsies on deceased workers of the polling stations to find out the real causes of their deaths, he said, adding that the human rights commission was also expected to have a common concern on this issue.
The deaths of over 500 members of polling station working committees across Indonesia have encouraged MER-C and Komnas HAM to explore potential cooperation on issues of humanity.
"We discussed various domestic and international issues of humanity," Sarbini Abdul Murad said in connection with the meeting of MER-C with the human rights commission at its headquarters on Friday (May 10).
The MER-C team members are keen to help the people at large have certain information on the deaths and illnesses of the polling station workers by finding out their causes, and taking appropriate measures and solutions to prevent similar miseries from recurring in future general elections.
In connection with this issue, Komnas HAM Chairman Ahmad Taufan Damanik said he has also set up an elections supervisory team to find out the causes of the polling station workers' deaths.
To this end, the human rights commission's team had held a coordinating meeting with the representatives of the University of Indonesia (UI) Medical Faculty and Indonesian Doctors Association (IDI).
However, Komnas HAM would be happy to extend its cooperation with other credible parties, including MER-C, because the fact finding results would have been publicly announced prior to the KPU's official announcement on manual vote recapitulations on May 22.
Such reputable institutions as UGM, UI, IDI, Komnas HAM, and MER-C as well as professional doctors have shown their concrete efforts to uncover the causes of deaths and illnesses of those who have sacrificed for a fair convening of Indonesia's general elections.
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
Copyright © ANTARA 2019
