IT Not Just Necessity but Solution in Elections
With the complexity of elections in Indonesia and the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic, the use of information technology is not just a necessity but as a solution.
Elections in Indonesia are well known as not only the most complicated, but the largest in the world. Starting from the 2019 election, there are five ballot boxes with three different systems for the election of the president, Regional Representatives Council (DPD), the House of Representatives and Regional Legislative Councils (DPRD) in provinces, regencies or municipalities. The elections will be held in one day with more than 190 million voters.
As a result of this complexity, in 2019, 894 organizers at the level of the polling station working committees (KPPS), the district election committee (PKK) and the voting committee (PPS) died and a further 5,175 others fell sick. It was believed to be caused by a combination of fatigue during the vote counting and tiered vote recapitulation combined with existing comorbidities.
For 2024, the challenge is even greater. Voting for the 2024 general election will be held on 14 Feb., 2024. Then on 27 Nov. 2024, the first simultaneous regional head elections (Pilkada) will be held. The results of the election of legislative members in the provinces and districts/municipalities will be the basis for the nomination of regional heads and deputy regional heads from the path of political parties.
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To realize the digitization of the 2024 General Election and Pilkada, the General Elections Committee (KPU) has prepared an integrated information technology (IT) road map including the stages of development of each application for both the general election and local elections in 2024. One of the innovations being rolled out is the Recapitulation Information System (Sirekap). In 2020, the KPU firstly introduced Sirekap to ease the work of KPPS and reduce the manipulation in recapitulation.
In Kompas’ XYZ Forum, which was held at Kompas’ editorial office in Jakarta on Tuesday (1/3/2022), the chairman of the KPU, Ilham Saputra hoped that the use of information technology carried out by the KPU and the Elections Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) for the 2017-2022 period such as Sirekap would be continued. The system, developed by the KPU in cooperation with local universities, could make the recapitulation process more transparent.
"I hope that Mas Hasyim Asy'ari can continue it," said Ilham, referring to Hasyim, a member of the KPU for the 2017-2022 period and again for the 2022-2027 period.
According to KPU member, Viryan Aziz, the use of digital technology is a necessity and a solution to the complexities and difficulties of election management. "With the use of digital technology, elections will be more trusted and can facilitate and simplify the electoral work process," said Viryan when contacted in Jakarta on Thursday (3/3).
The challenge of using information technology in elections lies on the mindset, instruments and culture. The mindset concerns the openness of election administrators to adapt to the digital technology in facilitating and simplifying electoral works.
Viryan emphasized that the traditional election elements should be changed into innovative election management. The newly elected KPU members for the 2022-2027 period could create new work patterns to answer the challenges of the technical work.
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According to him, there were two main problems in electoral management, namely the classic and new problems. Classic problems include the issue of the permanent voter list, procurement and distribution logistics, the manipulation of results among other issues. New problems surrounded disinformation and the death of officers involved in the 2019 election work.
Currently, the use of digital technology by the KPU has been optimized by the issuance of KPU Regulation No. 5 of 2021 concerning electronic-based government systems, the main plan for KPU information technology for 2021-2025 and several task forces through mutual cooperation work patterns related to cyber security, information technology infrastructure and the integration of election data management. The KPU has also obtained information security management system standards certification (SO 27001:2013) and has formed a team to respond to information security incidents, known as the Computer Security Incident Response Team (CSIRT)
The importance of the use of information technology in elections was also expressed by an Elections Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) member for 2017-2022 period, who was also reelected as a member for 2022-2027, Rahmat Bagja. The digitization of elections is in accordance with the needs of Bawaslu. In election supervision, digital technology is able to cut time and costs, so it is effective and efficient, transparent and accountable.
The digitization of elections is suitable in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, which demands disciplined health protocols. Bagja said Indonesia had the fourth-largest number of internet users in the world, in which the number of internet users accounted for 73.7 percent of the total population meaning 202.6 million people.
In preparation for the digitalization, Bawaslu is strengthening regulations to support and supervise the surveillance application system based on the digital technology that is currently being used. They are also promoting the use of digital application systems for internal parties or stakeholders and mapping the readiness of access to information technology networks in all regions.
Necessity
Professor of Political Science at Airlangga University, Ramlan Surbakti, said the use of IT systems would be a necessity for the KPU and Bawaslu to expedite the process of carrying out their respective duties and authorities. However, the most important thing in digitizing elections was not only the system itself, but also the human resources behind the technology, he said.
“The KPU and Bawaslu need to ensure that all personnel behind the IT devices understand and internalize the fast, accurate and efficient character of IT. The mentality of being slow,only doing your tasks and without control is not suitable for IT," he said.
On the other hand, Ramlan reminded the KPU to prepare a draft government regulation in lieu of law (perppu) and to discuss it with the President and Commission II of the House, which oversees domestic governance, state agencies, agrarian reform, village development and disadvantaged regions. He said it was important because vote results obtained from the Sirekap tools that had been used since the 2020 Pilkada, and would be used again for the 2024 General Election and Pilkada, were still considered as unofficial
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The process of recapitulating vote results is still carried out in stages and is done manually. According to Ramlan, the time required for the counting and recapitulation of votes lasts for up to 35 days. "This is the longest in the world," said Ramlan.
On the other hand, the existence of Sirekap, which is still considered unofficial, would only add to the burden of manpower and budget. “The use of Sirekap as the only official voting result must be regulated by law and cannot only be regulated under KPU regulations. If the KPU really wants to improve the quality of election results by accelerating the process of determining and announcing election results with Sirekap, then now is the time to prepare the draft of the Perppu," said Ramlan.
KPU member Arief Budiman said that in the 2020 simultaneous regional head elections, the KPU had actually proposed during a meeting with the House and the government that Sirekap be used as the official result of the vote recapitulation. However, the proposal was not yet approved. In the 2020 simultaneous regional elections, the data entered by Sirekap reached 98.9 percent of the total polling stations.
“There was only 1 percent left which had not been sent quickly. Some time ago we talked with the Communication and Information minister, who said in 2023 all regions in Indonesia would be connected with the internet. “If you build a system now, connect all regions in 2023 and prepare human resources, by 2024 this [Sirekap] could be used as the official result," he said.
The National coordinator of the Voter Education Network for the People Nurlia Dian Paramita said the process of compiling information technology in the KPU road map system was never clearly introduced. According to her, it was not known where the proposal came from, whether it was the KPU's initiative, the community's proposal or from the structural ranks of the election organizers. She said the KPU seemed to provide the information system, but it was not clear where the framework of the idea came from. She feared that the information technology provided by the KPU could be used in unanticipated ways.
If you build a system now, connect all regions in 2023 and prepare human resources, by 2024 this [Sirekap] could be used as the official result
“With regards to the Voter Data Information System (Sidalih), have people been accessing it regularly? With the use of the Political Party Information System (Sipol), will election participants be helped, or could this become an obstacle?” she questioned.
In addition, Nurlia said, there should be an integration of the KPU's information technology system. According to her, the system that is currently being formulated seemed to be still only partially functioning according to the needs of each sector. Yet, she said, the existence of technology to facilitate the elections should be an important element that must be put forward.
"Despite the fact that the law has not provided an umbrella for existing regulations, the KPU must be diligent in strengthening the evaluation and reform of the system," she said.
The article was translated by Hendarsyah Tarmizi.