Numbers...numbers...

Some surprising numbers have been emerging over the last couple of weeks. And they are important numbers: people and money (in that order).

The General Elections Commission (KPU) is in a bit of a tizzy because the number of voters doesn't add up. The KPU in the centre and its regional offshoots have come up with different totals for the number of voters. In some cases, according to Kompas (19 February 2009) these differences are significant. For example the KPU in Jakarta has decreed that there are 29,294,127 voters in East Java, while that province's KPU says there are 29,524,214 , a difference of 230,087. Meanwhile the figures for Papua are 2,190,516 according to the centre and 2,063,087 according to the Papua KPU, an alarming difference of 5.82%. Clearly these numbers are big enough to make a difference as to who gets elected and who doesn't. Nobody seems quite sure what to do about this. Tempo magazine (3 March 2009) reported that among the problems are duplication of names, nonsensical distribution of genders and fictitious voters. And according to the list for one province, there is a family with more more than 100 members.

And now there are some even more amazing numbers. All parties are obliged to report their assets before the campaign proper starts. Most of them seem to have done, although the election oversight body has accused Megawati's Indonesian Democratic of Struggle of not coming clean. The party's central office chairman Tjahjo Kumolo says this is a lie, an attempt to wreck the image of the party. He doesn't say who by... Anyway, he told detik.com, the party has already provided its account number and initial balance, just not the details yet.

Back to the numbers. Gerindra, the party set up as a vehicle for disgraced former general Prabowo Subianto to grab the presidency, has managed to accumulate Rp15.694 billion. Not bad for a new party - in fact enough to give almost Rp100 to every single voter. At least it explains the non-stop TV ads. In at number two is the Democratic Party, the vehicle established by current president (and former general) Yudhoyono to grab the presidency, with Rp7.027 trillion. And in third place is the People's Conscience Party, a vehicle established by indicted war criminal and former general Wiranto to grab the presidency, with just over Rp5 billion.

You've got to feel sorry for the impoverished also-rans. In last place is the Functional Party of Struggle (these Indonesian party names don't translate very well do they?) with a paltry Rp1,000,000. Just ahead is the Indonesian Justice and Unity Party, with Rp1.38 million. How strange: the Indonesian Justice and Unity Party was also established by a general. Obviously some ex-generals are better at "attracting" funds than others...