Member of the General Election Commission (KPU) Viryan Aziz reminded that election digitalization in Indonesia, conducted by the government, should not ignore digital sovereignty of the people.

“Do not let election digitalization ignore the one important keyword, digital sovereignty, which means that the digital life of people is guaranteed to be maintained, controlled, and managed by our country,” Aziz noted in a webinar on 2024 simultaneous elections, Monday.

He noted that digital sovereignty should not be controlled or managed by other parties outside Indonesia. Furthermore, sovereignty can be interpreted, among other things, as optimal security provided by the state for the personal data of Indonesian citizens as voters.

To realize digital sovereignty, the government needs to implement steps to achieve digital sovereignty through multi-layered cyber defense, according to Aziz.

Election digitalization is the utilization of digital technology in several stages of the election, such as the registration of voters and election participants, logistics distribution, ballot recapitulation, result announcement, dissemination of information, transparency, and even post-election research or study.

Aziz considered digital sovereignty in digitizing elections in Indonesia as a challenge for the government, stakeholders, and the public. However, these challenges should be overcome to immediately pursue the implementation of the 2024 General Election.

In addition, Aziz addressed that efforts of the government and election organizers to optimize election digitization will be able to increase public trust.

“Digitalization of the election is able to increase public’s trust in the election service provided by the government and KPU,” he remarked.

Aziz also highlighted the benefits of election digitization, including easier and simpler implementation of elections. Thus, classic problems in elections, such as a problematic population data system, can be resolved.

Source: Antara News