How Realistic Are Fears of Foreign Voters in the Jakarta Election?

An Indonesian politician is raising the specter of voter fraud ahead of the Jakarta governor's election, warning of an influx of foreign voters amid a heated campaign season rife with fake stories of millions of illegal immigrants from China flooding the nation's shores.

Hidayat Nur Wahid, a prominent politician with the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), urged Jakarta citizens to question people they suspect may be illegal foreign voters after they cast their ballots on 15 Feb. Hidayat made the statement at a campaign rally for Anies Baswedan and Sandiaga Uno last week.

"After casting your vote, please stay for a while and talk to people," Hidayat told local media. "Ask him or her using Javanese. If they don't answer, ask in Sundanese. If they don't respond again, ask them using Indonesian because probably he or she can only speak in Indonesian. If they do not speak Indonesian, even though they are holding an e-KTP [electronic ID], the e-KTP is possibly fake. Report them to the police if that is the case."

Hidayat was alluding to a fake story being spread on social media that accused incumbent candidate Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, the city's ethnic Chinese Indonesian governor, of issuing Chinese nationals fake e-KTPs ahead of the vote. That story, like many being spread online during this election, was untrue.

How realistic are these concerns? Have there been instances of foreigners illegally voting in previous elections, or is this an instance of U.S.-style "alternative facts," creeping into the Jakarta gubernatorial race?

"We've never found foreigners who have casted a vote," said Titi Anggraini, the director of the elections watchdog Perludem. "I've heard of such things abroad, but that happened in other countries like in Tawau [in Sabah, Borneo] in the legislative elections in 2004 and 2009. There were allegations that foreigners had manipulated the vote by mail-in ballots."

That's not to say that Indonesian elections are free of violations. The country has a problem with vote-buying, known locally as "money politics." Other common issues are people voting more than once, or voting without an e-KTP, Titi explained.

"For example, a mother is sick, so his son or daughter votes on her behalf," Titi said. "Some findings also indicated that sometimes one citizen voted more than once."

In far-flung regions of Indonesia, foreigners have allegedly appeared on voting records, but haven't cast votes. Nearly 150 illegal voters were found on lists in Papua province, and the city of Bitung, North Sulawesi, was forced to redo its mayoral election amid rumors of foreign interference, despite a lack of evidence.

"What the PKS politician said isn't a problem," she said. "It's a form of a public service announcement. Foreigners found guilty of casting vote will face heavy punishment, it may implicate to one's immigration status."

The warning also plays into the racially charged sentiment that's become a problem in an election tainted by fake news. When Islamists prepared to protest the incumbent governor, popularly known as Ahok, over allegations that he committed blasphemy, the Jakarta Police were forced to deny false rumors that there were 500 people from mainland China waiting in a hotel to defend Ahok during the demonstration.

Similar fake stories continue to circulate, including false claims that 10 million Chinese immigrants were in the country stealing jobs. Siti Zuhro, a researcher with Lembaga Ilmu Pengetahuan (LIPI) said racist and sectarian claims—known as "SARA"—were a concern in this election season.

"Right now we're facing a serious issue regarding SARA," said Siti. "And one of the candidates is facing a legal problem."

Siti said that racial and sectarian issue tend to rise to the surface during elections.

"If we find racial tones in any campaign, we need to respond to it wisely," Siti said. "According to Bawaslu [the election supervisory committee], Jakarta is considered a medium vulnerability zone. There's not a potential of riots. But seeing our current heating political climate, political parties and stakeholders need to respond better. Both election committees and supervisors must be able to present accurate data to minimize the risk of conflict."

VICE Indonesia reached out to the media relations team for Anies and Sandiaga, but they declined to comment.