Dominukus da Silva, 56, resident of Silawan Village, Belu District, East Nusa Tenggara, sharing borders with Timor-Leste, sat on a hut he owned while enjoying the view of his farms of corn and other crops.
The village itself directly faces the neighboring country.
“We can see the Indonesia-Timor-Leste border there,” he remarked while pointing to a river that separates the two countries that were once one in the past.
Da Silva is a villager who preferred to pledge allegiance to Indonesia following Timor-Leste’s secession. He has been an inhabitant of Silawan Village since 1999.
It was his love for Indonesia that drove Da Silva to devote himself to the motherland through his work as a farmer. He said he has always participated in national democracy festivals to elect the president and vice president as well as legislators.
He takes his participation in elections as a prideful deed, saying he believes that even a single vote could be decisive for the future of Indonesia. Leaving the farms to exercise voting rights at polling stations would not result in crop failures, he remarked.
“I can meet with plenty of people with different political preferences at a polling station,” he stated while enjoying fried sweet potatoes served by his wife.
Despite lacking knowledge of social media, he admitted to frequently receiving updates and information from his colleagues.
“Villagers like us used to receive information and simply accept it,” he remarked.
Learning from experiences, Da Silva and his fellow villagers have agreed to not be easily triggered by information that can disrupt harmony among people in the village.
“I and my colleagues hope that the upcoming elections will run safely and peacefully without harmful acts and sparks of hatred among all of us, considering we are living in a border region,” he affirmed.
Related news: Minister Setiadi invites PR officials to promote peaceful elections
Related news: Police chief asks people to help realize peaceful elections
Peaceful elections
It is indeed a challenging task for the nation to ensure the smooth running of the 2024 General Elections in areas bordering Indonesia and Timor-Leste. With that in mind, all stakeholders in Belu District have come to an agreement to take collective actions to pave the way for safe and peaceful elections, especially in their environment.
Indonesia will hold the general elections on February 14, in which around 204.8 million voters are expected to participate. The political campaigning period started on November 28, 2023, and will end on February 10.
During the elections, people will elect the president and vice president as well as members of the House of Representatives (DPR), Regional Representatives Council (DPD), and regional legislative councils at the provincial, municipal, and district levels.
The General Elections Commission (KPU) Office of Belu District has registered a total of 161,304 people in the fixed voter list.
The local KPU office expects the rate of voter participation in the district to reach 80-90 percent, an increase as compared to the rate of 73 percent recorded during the earlier elections five years ago.
In order to actualize peaceful elections in border areas, a commissioner of KPU Belu, Herlince Asa stated that the office had been exerting intensive efforts to disseminate narratives on peaceful elections to people and stakeholders, encouraging them to take part in creating a conducive situation.
He stated that KPU Belu has been encouraging residents to prudently exercise their voting rights and avoid provocations by certain parties attempting to trigger fragmentation within the nation. People need to beware of hoaxes and hate speeches to safeguard national unity and integrity, he emphasized.
Asa further noted that people share the responsibility to maintain security and order during the election, adding that people can submit reports to authorities in the event of violations of election rules.
The local office of the General Elections Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) and security apparatus have been coordinating to map out regions that are prone to election rule violations, especially those related to the possibilities of dual citizenships held by residents in border areas.
Bawaslu of Belu District has been in talks with the Indonesia-Timor-Leste Border Task Force to prevent irresponsible parties seeking to disrupt the elections by entering the Indonesian territory through illegal paths.
Eastern commander of the border task force Army Major Trijuang Danarjati stated that the task force had stationed personnel at around 20 monitoring posts to prevent trespassers.
“We have been intensifying patrols and enhancing our vigilance at several border posts and all routes connected to Timor-Leste,” he remarked at the Mota Ain Border Post, East Nusa Tenggara, on January 29.
Chief of the Belu Resort Police, Grand Commissioner Adjutant Richo Simanjuntak, emphasized that police officers had raised the frequency of security patrols, from six times per month to a daily basis.
Meanwhile, Vicar-General of the Atambua Diocese, Vincencius Wun, called on the people of Belu to help Indonesia demonstrate its capability of holding peaceful elections.
“We need to show that we, people in border regions, can take part in Indonesia’s efforts to realize peaceful elections,” he stated.
Related news: Need smart campaigning for peaceful elections: minister
Editor: Yuni Arisandy Sinaga
Copyright © ANTARA 2024
