REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- First Lady Ani Yudhoyono has encouraged Indonesian women to participate in the general elections in 2014 for the sake of democracy.
"Women must participate in the general elections smartly and critically. Let's make the elections a success," the First Lady stated at a national seminar for civil servants' wives on Wednesday.
The role of women in politics was inevitable, and the general elections would offer a good opportunity to women to participate in politics and guard democracy, she added.
Therefore, she urged women to make sure that their names were included in the list of eligible voters (DPT) for the upcoming elections, which is prepared by the General Elections Commission (KPU).
"We should make sure that every citizen having the right to vote is listed in the DPT. Ladies, please make sure that you are on that list. Find out whether your names are there, don't ignore it," the First Lady reiterated.
The theme of the seminar was, "The learning of politics for women towards sustainable development."
Also present at the seminar's inaugural ceremony were the Minister of Women's Empowerment and Child Protection Linda Amalia Sari Gumelar and Forestry Minister Zulkifli Hasan.
Indonesia plans to hold national, provincial and district legislative elections in April 2014, which will be followed by the presidential election on July 9, 2014.
The KPU had recently announced that the number of eligible voters in the DPT was 186,612,255, of which there are 93,439,610 men and 93,172,645 women. In addition to this, there are 2,010,280 voters in 130 countries, who will vote at 873 voting locations (TPS).
KPU Chairman Husni Kamil Manik noted that the KPU had considered all inputs before declaring the DPT.
However, some 10.4 million voters are being considered as "problematic" because they do not have citizenship identity numbers (NIKs).
He hoped to quickly put together the data regarding these 10.4 million problematic voters. Husni added that this number was real and that the political rights of these voters must be assured.
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