Bawaslu Chairperson Rahmat Bagja confirmed to have presented the proposal to President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) during an audience at the Presidential Palace here, Thursday.
"We propose the reduction of supervision officers' minimum age to 17 or 18 years, while the education criteria be reduced, from senior high school-level to junior high school," Bagja stated after his audience with the president.
Bagja explained that the recruitment criteria revision will enhance the regional Bawaslu's efforts in recruiting more officers at the local level, as the pool of eligible residents had been expanded.
Regarding the reduction of the minimum education criteria, he said that residents with junior high school-level education already possessed adequate skills to perform their duty as electoral supervision officers at their respective polling places.
"Junior high school (graduates) indeed can read, write, and do basic arithmetic, so they have adequate skills to serve as ad-hoc supervisors at polling places," Bagja noted.
He added that the president had responded positively to the proposal while acknowledging challenges that the electoral supervisory committee faced while recruiting ad-hoc officers.
"Mr President said that Indonesia is not only Jakarta, and he also acknowledged Bawaslu's challenges in recruiting ad-hoc officers in remote islands, border regions, and some other areas," the Bawaslu head remarked.
Meanwhile, Bagja said that the agency, on August 31, had earlier presented recommendations for the revision of the Election Law to accommodate the newly formed provinces in Papua.
The agency proposed the establishment of regional Bawaslu offices in the three new provinces and to designate Bawaslu's Papua Province branch office as the executor of Bawaslu functions in the new provinces by amending the law provision, he remarked.
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Translator: Gilang Galiartha, Nabil Ihsan
Editor: Sri Haryati
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