The Japanese Government Observation Mission for the general elections in Indonesia, consisting of 23 election observers, out of which 16 are dispatched by the home government and 7 are from the embassy and consulates general in Indonesia, conducted observation activities in each process of the preparation for setting up of polling stations, voting, and counting from April 1 to today. The Mission was divided into Jakarta, Surabaya, Denpasar, Makkasar, Medan and Aceh teams. On the voting day of April 5, the Mission, in six different regions, visited 150 polling stations in total to observe the voting and counting.

    Indonesia took a firm step forward toward its democratization with the last general elections in 1999. The series of subsequent revisions of the Constitution introduced new institutions to enlarge the opportunities of political participation among the people of Indonesia. I recognize that the general elections of this year are greatly significant in terms of consolidation of the process for democratization of Indonesia. It is of critical importance that the general elections in April are held in a peaceful, free, and fair manner in the sense that the elections lead to the presidential election scheduled to be held in July where the people of Indonesia will directly elect their president for the first time in their history.

    It is my pleasure that Japan, a close friend of Indonesia, was able to participate in the observation activities of the elections this time in a same way as was the case in the last general elections. The Japanese Government Observation Mission was extended cordial welcome wherever it visited, which enabled the Mission to achieve its goals. I should like to express my sincerest gratitude to the Indonesian Electoral Commission (KPU) and others concerned on the Indonesian side for their cooperation.

    Since the Mission was able to visit and conduct its activities only at limited locations in a rather limited time to directly observe the situations, we are not in a position to evaluate the whole process of the general elections including preparation, campaign, nationwide counting and tabulation, and announcement of the final results. The Mission deems, however, that the process of voting and counting at each polling station it observed was conducted in a free and fair manner; as far as the Mission could ascertain, it finds that the overall process was implemented generally in accordance with the election-related rules.

    Some of the teams of the Mission pointed out that the standard voting procedures stipulated by the KPU were not observed at some polling stations. On the other hand, the Mission was impressed in whichever polling station it visited with the serious attitude of those concerned toward the successful elections at every step of their work ranging from setting-up of polling stations, voting, and up to counting stages.

    I noted with regret that the voting was not conducted on April 5 in some areas due to technical or security reasons and voting or its preparation are now underway. Also I understand that problems related to voter registration and many violations of election-related rules were pointed out during the preparation process of the elections. We strongly hope that the remaining election process including the voting and counting in areas where voting has been postponed and nationwide tabulation work will be conducted in a fair and faithful manner until the final election results will be confirmed.

    Given the vast land area of Indonesia, approximately 147 million eligible voters and 600 thousand polling stations, the multiple elections and complex voting systems, as well as the limited lead time for preparations, physical and technical difficulties for the conduct of the elections were indeed daunting. The Government of Japan, taking these factors into consideration, has provided a total of 22.5 million US dollars of grant aid, including the costs of procuring ballot boxes and polling booths as well as technical cooperation of dispatching 17 JICA experts to the central and local KPUs.

    It would be our great pleasure if the activities of the Japanese Government Observation Mission this time contributed in any way to the successful implementation of the elections for the people of Indonesia. The Japanese Government Mission, dispatched from a friendly nation of Indonesia, expresses its strong hope that the people of Indonesia will march forward on the path for the building of a fair and democratic society on the basis of the election results.