Elections 2004: Participate in Peace

This programme will continue Common Ground Indonesia's work to reduce violence, particularly violence related to communal and political conflict by providing capacity building and support for civil society in selected vulnerable locations. The capacity building and support will focus on increasing informed participants in the election process and at the same time preventing violent conflict. The capacity-building and programme implementation is particularly aimed at encouraging voters to "participate in peace" in conflict-vulnerable areas, including locations where there remain many internally displaced people (IDPs).

The overall goal of the programme is: to encourage communities in conflict-vulnerable areas to participate as fully as possible in the democratic process during the 2004 Elections, while consciously preventing and avoiding violence as a mean to express their aspirations and differences.

To "participate in peace" means that voters will make informed choices about their participation in the 2004 elections; will engage positively in the democratic process; have the skills and understanding to participate without violence; and the ability to ward-off violent conflict should it emerge. Media, local NGOs, IDP leaders, mass organizations, political parties, youth organizations, religious leaders and others will participate in the training and they will then be supported to carry out "participate in peace" activities amongst their constituencies. The programme will be carried out in cooperation with CSOs, as well as with official agencies such as the Election Monitoring Committee (Panwaslu) and the General Elections Commission (KPU).

The programme targets National voter, education and monitoring organizations as the main beneficiaries of the conflict prevention mainstreaming part of the programme , which will include education and production and distribution of materials on conflict prevention for the elections. The programme will work more intensively within specific conflict-vulnerable situations, in the following regions:

• Jakarta - as the national capital, Jakarta has been a hot spot for election violence for many years. Intensive campaigning and debate will occur in Jakarta, and clashes between party supporters are quite possible.



• West Kalimantan - An area which has experienced 5 years of ethnic conflict between three ethnic groups: Malay, Madurese, and Dayak. West Kalimantan remains in a state of "negative peace" with ethnic groups continuing to live in segregated communities. Ethnic-based campaigning has long been a feature of Kalimantan politics, and will also be so for the 2004 elections. In addition, 40,000 IDPs in relocation sites still do not have ID papers (KTP) and so their ability to participate in the elections remains unclear.



• East and Central Java - a number of faultlines make East Java and parts of Central Java vulnerable to election-related violence, in particular the fierce competition for votes between the larger Islamic parties. As in West Kalimantan, many of the remaining 100,000 IDPs in Madura do not have ID papers, and the potential for the IDP vote to be manipulated and mobilized is high.



• Bali - Potential for communal conflict in Bali has risen since the nightclub bombings of October 2002, and violence between supporters of different political parties has already been seen. Given the intense party support patterns in Bali, and the economic shocks experienced in the past year, Bali is a flashpoint during the 2004 elections.



• Papua - site of long-term, low-level conflict, has greater potential than ever for election-related violence, with the tensions caused by the division of the province, the uncertainty of the future of Special Autonomy, tensions between ethnic groups, and campaigns from some quarters to boycott the elections.

Listen to the election song (mp3)
English translation of lyrics
Read press release

For more information about this programme, please contact:

Vanessa Johanson
Country Director
E-mail: vjohanson@indocg.org

Eliakim Sitorus
Programme Manager - Community Based
E-mail: esitorus@indocg.org

Eva Dalak
Indonesia Programme Manager, Brussels
Mobile: +32-472883251

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