Election: Gear up, buckle down

Indah Setiawati ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Thu, 07/02/2009 9:11 AM  |  City

Jakarta Police say they are fully prepared to secure the city and key locations during the July 8 presidential election.  

Jakarta Police Chief Insp. Gen. Wahyono said a routine patrol had been conducted around the key spots, which included all governmental institutions, strategic industrial areas, foreign embassies and crowded tourist destinations.

“We will closely watch crowded places like Ancol and Jakarta Fair.”

Wahyono said his intelligence officers had not found any real threats but the police had anticipated the worst-case scenario, such as a riot, by conducting various practices.

“We have a plan and are ready to execute a standard procedure if there is chaos. We have also determined spots that need defending.”

He added the police also held a practice with the National Military.

Jakarta Police will deploy over 20,000 personnel for the election.

Wahyono said 16,500 people would stand ready at the 12,501 polling stations while 4,000 officers would patrol the city and greater areas by vehicle. The remaining 9,000 will attend to regular public service.

Governor Fauzi Bowo said he would deploy 34,000 people, which included public order officers and society protection officers, to back up the police at the polling stations.

A polling station caters to 800 voters on average. The city expects 7,668,058 million registered voters to participate in the election.

Wahyono said he hoped people who would demonstrate during the cooling off period, starting July 4, would inform them or ask for permission before taking action.

“We need to be informed of certain activities while others require our permission. They are not the same,” he said, adding the police supported freedom of speech.

He said on July 6 he would deploy the personnel to the polling stations so they could get to know related officials like the voting committees and subdistrict heads.

Jakarta Election Commission (KPUD) chairman Juri Ardiantoro said he was aiming that the logistic distribution in the city would be completed by July 3.  

“The logistics consist of 23 kinds of office utensils, paper ballots and nine kinds of paper covers. The distribution has been simultaneously done in some places.”

Wahyono said all levels in police offices made a regular report on the condition of the election logistic in sub-district areas that was passed into the National Police.     

“The police subprecinct offices have been warned about possible fires caused by electrical short circuit in the election logistic places.”

Meanwhile, the Jakarta Election Supervisory Committee (Panwaslu) chairman Ramdansyah said there was still a disagreement over the number of registered voters between his body and the KPUD.

According to Panwaslu’s analysis, there were 18 subdistricts where voters were prone to errors because they showed a drastic increase and decrease of registered voters as compared to the April elections.

The subdistricts included Rawajati and Kalibata, both in Pancoran district. According to Panwaslu, there are 25,277 registered voters in Rawajati, an increase of 86 percent compared to the area’s legislative elections. Kalibata has 17,375 registered voters, down by 43 percent.

Juri said the change in the number of voters was not a problem because the KPUD tried to accommodate more voters during the presidential election after learning from the legislative one.

“In the legislative election, the voters were registered based on ID cards, while in this election, they are listed based on living address. That is why we can see a lot of changes.”

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