Police, KPUD ready to secure this week's governor election

Dicky Christanto ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Denpasar   |  Mon, 07/07/2008 10:31 AM  |  Bali

Bali Police deputy chief Brig. Gen. Andi Chaeruddin said the police were ready to secure the island's first direct gubernatorial election, which will take place this Wednesday.

"The police will maintain close cooperation with the regional military command, local administration and the traditional security organizations to ensure that the Balinese people will be able to exercise their political right in a safe and smooth democratic process," Chaeruddin said Friday after presiding over a security preparedness gathering at Bajra Sandhi monument, Renon.

He stated that as many as 7,806 police officers, 504 soldiers and around 1,300 public order officers and representatives from Desa Pekraman (traditional customary villages) across the resort island would be involved in the security arrangement.

"We will deploy these officers to every polling station in the island starting this Monday. Each polling station will be guarded by at least one police officer," he said.

Chaeruddin said that he was quite optimistic that Balinese would be able to successfully cast their votes in the upcoming election day without any significant disruption.

"I do hope that every Balinese will be able to exercise their political rights because there is nothing to be afraid of," he said.

"We also hope that the hopefuls will also ask their supporters not to launch any act of provocation that might lead to a useless conflict. If they find any wrong doing in the election process, they should report to us and let us handle it."

He said a joint team comprising police officers, public prosecutors and members of the Election Supervisory Committee (Panwaslu) had been established to deal with any violations happened during the election process.

However, he said, the police had identified that at least 3,529 polling stations out of 5,683 across the island were prone to incidents, including criminal actions and violent brawls between the candidates' supporters.

"Therefore we will place more officers at those spots," he said.

Commander of the Wirasatya Military Resort Col. Dedi Kusnadi said that the army would assisted the police in securing the polling stations deemed as prone to incidents.

"In case an incident takes place in one of those areas, my officers will respond in accordance with the measures directed by the police officer in command," he said.

Bali Police operational division head Adj. Sr. Comr. Andi Panggabean said that the police had designed special security measures for polling stations in Tabanan and Bangli regions. The two regions needed special treatment, he said.

"There have been some conflicts related to political activities happening in the past, therefore we should be ready to anticipate it by deploying more officers in the field," he told The Jakarta Post recently.

He also said that currently, the police's intelligence officers were busy gathering and compiling data from every region in the island in order to determine the actual level of security disturbances that might take place.

When asked how the police would tackle a violation if it was done by police or army officers, considering that there were two police generals and one retired army general involved in the competition, Chaeruddin said violators would be punished by disciplinary sanction to imprisonment.

Two of the hopefuls, I Made Mangku Pastika, the governor candidate from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) and I Nyoman Gede Suweta, vice governor candidate from the Golkar Party, were an active three star police general and a retired police brigadier general, respectively. I Gusti Bagus Alit Putera, the vice governor candidate from the Bali Awakening Coalition (KKB), was a retired army brigadier general.

"It is clear that police and army officers are prohibited to use their political rights according to the National Police Law, so whoever violates it will surely face sanctions," he added.

On Saturday morning, the three candidate pairs closed the campaign session by attending a joint prayer session in Denpasar's Jagadnata temple.

After performing the prayers, high priest Ida Pedanda Made Gunung and the pairs, namely I Made Mangku Pastika-A.A. Puspayoga, I Gede Winasa-I Gusti Bagus Alit Putera and Cokorda Budi Suryawan-I Nyoman Gede Suweta, issued a joint statement asking their supporters to maintain a safe and smooth election process.

Chairman of Bali General Election Commission (KPUD) Anak Agung Gede Oka Wisnumurti, who also attended the praying session, said the statement was important as it could calm down the candidates' fanatic grassroot supporters.

"It could be set as a model to those at the grassroots level to avoid violence during and after the election," he said.

When asked about logistical preparations, Wisnumurti said that he was upbeat that the KPUD had nearly completed the necessary logistical preparation.

"We are now in the process of distributing 2,631,854 paper ballots. In general, we can say that we are now ready to face the election," he said, as quoted by Detikcom on Saturday.

Copyright © 2008 The Jakarta Post - PT Bina Media Tenggara. All Rights Reserved.