On April 2019, I participated in Indonesia’s Presidential Election as a volunteer in Johor, Malaysia. As a volunteer that helps the election, we were assigned to gather and count the election voice from Indonesians citizens across Johor. Clearly, there are so many Indonesian citizens spread out across Johor, and with the help of the volunteers, the citizens across Johor should be reached. For the area in Johor Bahru including Skudai and etc., we elect from KJRI (Konsulat Jenderal Republik Indonesia). As the volunteer came from across Johor, especially from around the KJRI area. Many students from UTM volunteered and also many other Indonesians volunteered from so many backgrounds. After the volunteer applied and approved by the Committee, the volunteer is assigned to a team to go to a specific area, and luckily I am assigned to the same team as my friend Anthony and with one other random person called Mr.Suparmin. Whilst my team is assigned to go to Tangkak, the area was located very far from Skudai. All that we had to do is locate Indonesian citizens in Tangkak, inform them that we will make the elections held in their area, and report to the local police. Days before the election held, we were assigned to survey the locations before, and luckily after we went there we met a person that knows many of the Indonesians around the area, and he introduces me to the person who knows much about the election that usually held in that area. After meeting the person called Mr. Indra, he really helps us to held this election by preparing the place until calling all the Indonesian around the area to vote. After the survey, we head back to KJRI / Johor Bahru to report to the committee about the situations in the area we were assigned to. Day after the survey, we went back to the area to held the election and collect the ballot from the Indonesian. We took off from Johor Bahru in the morning around 9 am. after arriving in the area, Mr. Indra already prepared the location for the election, So we just unload the stuff needed for the election. After we prepared the locations for the election, the local police came to survey about what is really going on, and we show them the letter of duty from the KJRI that we are legitimate to held an election. Several hours after we prepared, the Indonesian citizen started to flood the area to vote. As most of them are workers, they came when it is their lunch break. Basically, after the wave of voters started to recede, we took lunch at the location as we cannot go anywhere. We waited at the location until around 9.30 PM, since Mr.Indra told us there will be a lot more Indonesian that just finished their work at night, so we need to wait until they came. Unluckily, around 8 pm. it started to rain and it is quite heavy rain, and Mr.Indra told us that most of them needed to wait until the rain reduced a little. After the rain started to fade away, a wave of Indonesian Citizens started to come, and it is much more from the afternoon one. After we finished everything, we packed up and we say thank you to Mr.Indra. We try to give a bunch of money to him as a grant to help us a lot, but he refuses and he only said he do it for the country. So, we went back to Johor Bahru to take the ballot, with the heavy rain along the way and we arrive at the KJRI very late at night around 2 am. The worst part is they said our ballot is not fulfilling the target for each team, and they assign us again to another area which is Taman Mount Austin in the morning around 10 am. Want it or not we have to, since we already volunteered for this. At around 10 am we went to the area and collected the vote, as we meet several problems where the company does not have any information that we will held an election there. Although the Indonesian Citizen that work there already excited about the voting, the company first does not let us to do the election. And one of the workers like the higher ones in the company that is also Indonesian make an agreement with the supervisor so we can held the election. with limited time and space the Indonesian Citizen started to came and vote. Even some of them gave us a free drink, and we really felt appreciated to be there. We can see the excitement from their face right after they voted, and seeing that enthusiasm from the people to vote also gave us a boost to work harder and harder. After we collected votes from that area and it does not takes too long since the agreement is not letting us to be there all day, we head back quickly to KJRI to report out duty .we arrive back and our team was approved that our task is finished, then our team went back home to prepare for the vote count. On April 18 2019, we went back to KJRI to vote the voice that we collected days before. The counting regulation is very strict and also there was an overseer to watch and make sure the counting is held correctly. The counting last for hours and in the afternoon we finished with the counting and we headed back home. to summarize the event, the part we did in this volunteer was doing a survey, collecting voices, and counting the voices. But as an Indonesian, committee, volunteer, and etc. also vote for the election.
After participating in the election, I felt and learned how working in the field felt like. And to take orders also meeting many people from different backgrounds. As a volunteer, assigned to a team with a completely random person (Mr.Suparmin) also a great experience, he tells us a lot of story from a different point of view. By volunteering in this election, really taught and improve me a lot of things that I hope will be useful in the future. This activity really taught me to work hard and not giving up, although there are several mistakes where we should have done better. And the experience with Mr.Indra really taught me to be selfless. The experience by volunteering outside of our own country is very much different from by doing it in our own, while election in our country we just held there election right in our area(for example if I live in Skudai then I will be assigned in Skudai, sometimes literally near my own house). By doing this, it is really a huge opportunity and experience that I can achieve.
Relating to my past experience being in an organization, In my high school, I have been a head division supervising 3 other divisions for student representatives. So leading a team of 3 was not a big challenge while in my past I lead 3 divisions with dozens of people in each division. Although, by working with a team of 3 and coordinating a huge group of people in the election was an experience. Luckily our team really work hard and with the help of the local, that really helps us a lot.
The most important lesson I learned is that I can see how is the world really work out there, so far my past experience only with some organization, and by doing this really give me an unforgettable experience about how real work is. And seeing work area from a different perspective also gave me a true sight of life. This experience taught me to work hard as we can and be grateful. Since this is my first experience doing this, i hope i can do it better in the future like handling the situation better than before and make our work more efficient with less effort.
In the future, if i have another opportunity such as this election, I would change the way we worked. Because in this election, we really did something that is actually not efficient. For example, the data for the people that live in our area (Tangkak) is not the newest one, and sometimes the name from the data is doubled/same as the other team nearby our area. This makes confusion between us. Also, the voters mostly not listed, so I think the data and surveying need to improve.
Overall, this activity gave me a precious experience and benefits. I get to see at the aspects that i am lacking off so now i can try to improve them. In the future i hope i can do something like this again and gaining experience outside the academic area, where i can improve my skills and also doing it for my own country is something i can be proud of.