It's General Election Day for overseas Indonesian in Penang, and I'm on my way to Indonesia's Consulate General Office at Jalan Burma. Hopping on my reliable Rapid Penang 103 Bus, I share the shuttle with a few Burmese who are on their way to Dhammikarama Burmese Buddhist Temple at Jalan Burma. You can tell they're Burmese merely by looking at the Thanaka paste covering their faces. You can't get more Burmese than that :) Turns out it is Burmese Thingyan Water Festival (held from 13 to 16 April annually) at Dhammikarama Burmese Buddhist Temple, so I expect it'll be quite a traffic. Peeping from my bus window, I wave a bit to these festive Burmese, and ride along Jalan Kelawai.
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| girls and boys with thanaka paste on their faces |
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| the burmese celebrating thingyan water festival |
In the midst of traffic, I manage to take a glimpse of stupa from Wat Chayamangkalaram, a Thai Buddhist Temple, which is located just across Dhammikarama Burmese Buddhist Temple. Both temples were built on a piece of land granted to both Burmese and Siamese community in George Town by Queen Victoria during the Straits Settlements era.
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wat chaiyamangkalaram stupa
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| bye bye, burmese boys and girls |
My bus glides smoothly along Jalan Bagan Jermal and comes to a halt again when turns to Jl. Burma. Ah-ha, here they are! My fellow countrymen who throng Jl. Burma to cast their votes.
More than 190 million registered voters go to polls in Indonesia on April 17, but overseas voters have been given from April 8 to April 14 to cast their ballots. For the first time, presidential, parliamentary and regional elections are all taking place simultaneously in one day. It's one of the most complicated single-day elections in global history, as 245,000 candidates will be running for more than 20,000 national and local legislative seats across a country made up of 17,508 islands and covering 1,904,569 square kilometers.
Indonesia General Election is held for overseas voters living in Penang on Sunday, April 14. Overseas voters will only receive two ballots: regardless of where they are voting: one for the presidential elections and one for the House of Representativeas.
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| indonesia general election day in penang, april 14 |
Actually, overseas voters have three voting methods available: visiting a polling station, voting by email or casting their votes at roving ballot or drop boxes. Turns out voters prefer the first method, visiting the main polling station.
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| free flow of drinking water and snacks all day long |
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| chill! all is set when nature calls |
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| don't litter, please. thrash bags are everywhere. |
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| RTM crews on the spot to cover the election story |
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| interview a few indonesians |
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| ...and we have a special guest today |
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| you can tell he's a special guest since the consul general himself shows up and greets him |
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| my inked pinkie |
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| indonesia's fried chicken for my lunch cum dinner, provided by Mbax Ardilla, that wraps up my overseas election day experience in penang |
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