Indonesia election: Six polling station officers reportedly died of exhaustion

Indonesian election officials transporting ballot boxes from polling stations on a boat in a flooded part of Bandung in West Java on Thursday. The General Elections Commission has about a month to announce official results of the election, in which more than 192 million people were eligible to vote.
PHOTO: EPA-EFE

Updated

Published

Apr 20, 2019, 05:00 AM

JAKARTA • Six Indonesian polling station working committee (KPPS) officers reportedly died due to exhaustion after working long hours on the April 17 election day.

One of the officers, Mr Supriyanto, 54, head of a KPPS in Cigalontang subdistrict, Tasikmalaya, West Java, passed out and was rushed to a nearby community health centre but was pronounced dead at 2pm on Wednesday.

Cigalontang police chief Tudiman said Mr Supriyanto may have become exhausted after working 12 hours nonstop.

"Supriyanto complained of finding it hard to breathe before he passed out. His family said he had a history of asthma," Mr Tudiman said as quoted by tribunnews. com.

Meanwhile, in Malang, East Java, KPPS officer Agus Susanto, 40, from Lowokwaru subdistrict, died after finishing his work at a polling station.

Malang General Elections Commission (KPU) head Zaenudin said Mr Agus might have died of exhaustion after working on election day.

Social media users are mourning them, using the hashtag #MartirDemokrasi (MartyrsofDemocracy) to honour their hard work in the election.

"I can't imagine how tired they must have been. We should really appreciate how hard the @KPU_ID team has been working to prepare for this election," @kakaoutloud tweeted on Thursday.

THE JAKARTA POST/ASIA NEWS NETWORK